DOMINION'S PART.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 May 1916, Page 5

DOMINION'S PART.

■■ —__ I ENLISTMENT OF MARRIED MEN. AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. FROM THE RECRUITING BOARD. By 'j'elegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. An important statement regarding the enlistment of married men and payment of separation allowances has been made by the Recruiting Board in a letter addressed to the chairman of the Wellington War Relief Association. The Board states definitely that it does not wish to encourage the enlistment at present of men with heavy family responsibilities, and indicates that steps are being taken to check the entry of such men into the training camps. The secretary of the Board states, with reference to the allowance of Us fid per week paid with respect to each child of men who enlist in the expeditionary force: "Your association appears to me to be under a misapprehension with re-, spect ito the policy of the Recruiting Board in limiting the number of children to whom this allowance will be paid. The Board, in deciding that the number should not be increased beyond five, was not actuated by any parsimonious or cheeseparing idea, but fixed the limit wholly and solely so that men with large families should not be encouraged to enlist. The 'Defence Department has had to contend with such a large number of applications for discharge for this reason, usually a fortnight or a week before the embarkation of each reinforcement, that steps are. now being taken to inquire into the circumstances of men who offer themselves for service, in all cases where

there is reason to believe that a man's family responsibilities are such as to make it inadvisable to enlist him under the voluntary system of enlistment. The Recruiting Board thinks it safe to assume that a married man with family responsibilities who enlists, if he knows what he is doing and is in a position to make adequate financial provision for his dependents, in such case the Board sees no reason why lie should not enlist. With respect to the question of children's allowance to non-commissioned officers and men of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force who are permanently attached to New Zealand camps, Cabinet has decided to grant allowance in the case of all men who are resident in training camps, in internment camps, and at the forts. The allowance will not be paid with respect to children of unon. who rulia at boiM *