LOCAL BODIES AND RECRUITING SCHEME.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 February 1916, Page 4

LOCAL BODIES AND RECRUITING SCHEME.

The circular issued to all the local bodies of the Dominion by the Recruiting Board had for its object tbe for-' mation of local Committees charged particularly with the duty of assisting tlio recruiting movement by means of a personal canvass, but, as the Premier stated yesterday, some of these bodies seem to have got the idea that the (iovemment is expected to do all the work, ineluding canvassing. This is quite an erroneous impression, and its removal should certainly cause those local bodies who have turned down (lie request to reconsider the matter on broad grounds, What some of the members of these bodies have failed to grasp is that the occasion is one that cannot be regarded from an ordinary standpoint, and that impulsive theories concerning the duty of the Oovernmont, or the institution of conscription, are entirely out of place. As representatives of their respective communities and engaged in the important administration of local affairs, the members of local bodies are rightly regarded as leaders of action in their district, and as public men they are naturally relied upon to assist in facing an unparalleled crisis to the best of their ability, and the Premier emphasises the fact that whatever rcwuit-

ing system may be in operation, whether voluntary or compulsory, they cannot possibly divest themselves of that duty. That this phase of the matter has not struck the members of some local bodies no doubt accounts for their misconception of the request made by the Recruiting Board. There can be but one Government at a time, and the Government of this Dominion, in its wisdom—or otherwise —has decided To thoroughly exhaust all the means for securing voluntary recruits. Similar means were adopted in the Motherland in connection with Lord Derby's scheme, and Mr. Massey states that, having very carefully watched the English papers, he cannot recollect a single instance of a local body there refusing its assistance. Possibly this may revtiit from the comparative closeness of the local bodies in England to the terrible conflict, but we in this far away Dominion have in other respects only too willingly done what was possible to help the authorities, and it seems that in the. most vital of all matters—securing the necessary men to tight our unscrupulous foes— there should be even greater zeal shown. All that the local bodies are asked to do is to start recruiting organisations where they are required and to keep them them going as long as they are wanted, selecting the most suitable men or women for the purpose. Just now it is not a question of one system or the other. It is voluntary recruiting, and the carrying out of the request while not taxing to any appreciable extent the energies and intelligence of our public men, would certainly be of great, assistance, and would show that they in rise to an exceptional occasion and even sacrifice their opinions for the sake of the one great need of the hour. It would be a graceful and fitting act for all local bodies to give the assistance asked for.