WAR PENSIONS BILL.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 May 1916, Page 8

WAR PENSIONS BILL.

MARRIED OR UNMARRIED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington. May 2G. Several nf the members who discussed tlic War Pensions Rill in the House of Representatives yesterday assumed that there were enough single men of military ape' left in New Zealand to supply reinforcements for the remaining months of the present year, and that the conscription of the first classes of the married men—the second division of the Expeditionary Forces Reserve—would not become necessary until 1017. The assumption does not appear to he justified by the facts at the disposal of the Defence authorities. There are still very many thousands of single men of military age who have not oli'ered their services, but the experience of recent months has shown that the proportion or unfit among these nominally eligible men is exceptionally high. The returns prepared 'by the recruiting committees after the completion of the personal canvass show that in several' districts the supply of single men is almost exhausted. ' It will be found when the test is applied, moreover, that a substantial proportion of the single men still remaining have domestic or business ties of a character demanding consideration. The bill, as laid before the House, makes practically no exemptions. Every man of military age who has not yet volunteered, and who is not a criminal O'' a lunatic, will be required to enrol in the Rxpcditionary Forces Reserve. But the bill provides' for the establishment of military appeal boards, empowered to hear applications- for exemption and appeals against classifications. A great load of responsibility will rest upon these boards, since they will have the opportunity to correct the inequalities that will lie unavoidable under the rough and ready scheme of classification, laid down in the bill. An unmarried man in. the first division may ilie supporting several relatives, for' example, while a married man in the second division may have an assured income of £.>()() a year to leave his wife and two children. Ought the single man to go first in that case? The tendency of the appeal hoards in the United King; dom has been to make the domestic responsibilities of the individual rather than his condition as to marriage, the test of his immediate eligibility for service. How long the available supply of unmarried men will suffice fu. the needs of the Defence Department, without drawing upon married men. it is impossible to say with any certainty. The position \arie= in the recruiting districts, and in that direction there is a diliicnlty which the fiovernment has loft to be solved by regulations nilder the bill after it has reached the Statute Book. If quotas were drawn on i: population basis from the recruiting districts, married men would be taken from some parts of the Dominion while single men were still available in other parts. The advantage would rest with the districts that have failed to supply their full share of men lip to the present time. The bill gives the fiovernment the power to define districts and quotas as the necessities of the case mav require. Already steps have ■been taken by the Defence Department to classify according to their domiciles the men who have enlisted up to the present time lv.it when this information is available the problem will still pre'-cnt difficulties. It would he possible to treat the Dominion as one district for the purpose of the ballot when selecting the number of men required from a particular class, but that arrangement would not ™-'irc equality of sacrifice as between the district*