THE PERSONAL CANVAS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1916, Page 3

THE PERSONAL CANVAS.

WHY IT IS NECESSARY. THE NEW RECRUITINC SCHEME. The present allotment ot quotas lor the reinforcement drafts up till December, 1910, under the Recruiting Board's scheme has been based on the preliminary results of the National Registra-. tion figures of all classes of men of military age in each military group. It is expected that this allotment will be subject to perhaps considerable alteration, particularly when the present figures are checked and amended a 6 a result of the personal canvass provided for by the new recruiting scheme. So apart altogether from the flow of recruits that it should bring to the enlistment office, the great value of a thorough and systematic personal appeal lies in the fact that the precise numbers furnished by it will enable the Recruiting Board to review, and, If necessary, reassess the allotment of quotas of the several group areas on a more assured and reliable basis than is at present available. The Board will thus be able, in arranging for future requirements, to give due credit to the groups which have loyally responded to the call and supplied their full or even more than their full quota. Similarly, the Board will be in a position to discriminate against the areas which have failed at any given date to send forward their proportion of men and to aek these groups to supply an increased quota for the future.

It has always to be remembered, of course, that in allotting these quotas the Board will be guided not only by the number of men volunteering to serve with the Expeditionary Force, but also by the number of eligible men available as shown by the personal canvass in conjunction with the figures of the National Hegister. Another great advantage to be derived from the exhaustive personal canvass as outlined and provided for under the new recruiting scheme is that it will supply the Board with the information necessary to enable it to deal with the question of migrating population since the National Register was taken and to adjust these fluctuations on a basis that will be equitable to each group area. But the personal canvass under the Board's scheme has another and still more important function. The only information that the Recruiting Board ha 9 in its possession with respect to the men of military age who are eligible for service in the Dominion is that provided by the National Eegister. The accuracy of the particulars in each registration form returned to the Government Statistician was governed only by the conscience and loyalty of the individual. There was practically no check on the man who failed to give the information directed by the National Registration Act or who deliberately refrained from doing so. The Board looks to the personal canvass under the recruiting scheme and to the scrutiny of the local alphabetical rolls by the local authorities and committees of each district to enable it to verify and amplify the National Register, so that in the event of compulsory measures being necessary at any time the Government will be in a position to make that compulsion operate in the fairest possible way according to the family and financial obligations of each man of military age. It is obvious, therefore, that without this systematic and thorough personal canvass the unwilling will still he able to evade their duty and responsibility and will still be able to shelter behind the men who bavc loyally responded to the call of duty. It is thus in the interests of every man who has conscientiously complied with the provisions o'f the National Registration Act, and it is doubly in the interests of every man who has intimated his willingness to serve, when the call comes, to see that a complete and thorough personal canvass of the men of military age is made from end to end of the Dominion, because if that is not done, the willing and loyal men of New Zealand may still have to carry more than their fair share of this terrible burden even should compulsion come.

It is very evident that this aspect of the personal canvass has not been appreciated by those local authorities who are declining to co-operate with the Recruiting Board and carry out the scheme, and who are urging that compulsion is the only fair method by which our Expeditionary Forces can be maintained at full strength. Compulsion may he the fairest and best way of securing recruits, but a compulsion that was based on the Xational Registration figures alone without the necessary check that is only to be obtained by a personal canvass over every portion of the Dominion would fail to achieve the veryobject that those favoring compulsion have in view. The only effective method by which the available information with respect to the men of military age can be satisfactorily checked in order that compulsion—should it ever come—may be enforced on a fair and equitable basis, is by the local bodies and citizens in eacli district undertaking the work of personal canvass, as they have the necessary local knowledge to enable the data as compiled from the Xational Register to be made as perfect as possible. Every citizen, therefore, who wishes to fill the the gaps left by the men who have already paid tlie supreme price of patriotism, every citizen who wishes to stand by our soldiers at the front, who are waiting expectantly for help, ever citizen who wishes that the sacrifice should be made by those best able to make it and by the unwilling as well as by the volunteer, should be prepared to help in the fullest possible degree to make this canvass a thorough and searching one. It will thus be seen that the personal canvass as outlined by the Recruiting Roard is of the most vital importance. That is why the Board has appealed to every local body and every public-spirit-ed citizen to work steadfastly and whole-heartedly to ensure the success of this scheme. This is a work that for the time being should supersede ail other duties. The National f.'overnnient must have a trustworthy stocktaking of its manhood of military age so ti;at it may be in a position to prepare for any eventuality in this crisis. And | who knows what the morrow may bring forthJ The Recruiting Board therefore urgently appeals to every local body, to every public man, to every citizen to give the new recruiting scheme the fullest possible support, and particularly to see that the personal canvass is in no way relaxed until an absolutely definite knowledge has been obtained of the position of every man of military age in Sew Zealand.