SHORTAGE OF RECRUITS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1916, Page 6

SHORTAGE OF RECRUITS.

.VOLUNTEERS URGED TO .COME FORWARD. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Septembei 141 The mobilisation of the 21st Reinforcements is due next week, and reports which are reaching the Defence Department indicate that a sufficient number of recruits to fill the draft has not vet been obtained. Some of the groups 'are able to show enough enlistments to cover their quotas, but experience has proved that a substantial deduction his to be made for men who will not ap;;.a:- on the day of mobiii.-ation. UtliL-r still have shortages even on paper. The quotas for the 2ist Reinforcements include extra men to com-.- the shortage of some 218 men brought forward from the last draft.

The Defence authorities wish it to he understood clcurly that recruits.are needed at the present time, and that eligible men are invited to come forward at once, without >-,-:■'. ting for the spur of compulsion. 'l'll.' Recruiting Board has tried to make tin position plain to the local recruiting organisations in various parts of the country, but apparently there is an impression even now that the proclamation of the Expeditionary Force Reserve, under the Military Service Act, has diminished the need for voluntary effort. " The fact is that the machinery of the conscription law is not yet ready, and in any case the Board wants as many men as possible to enter camp with the honorable status of volunteers.

The Minister for Defence lias indicated already that the first conscripts will be taken under clause 35 of the Military Service Act, which provides for the compulsory enlistment of members of families which are not yet represented in the Expeditionary Forces and which have no adequate excuse for their failure. (Reports regarding families containing several able-bodied sons, not one of wham has volunteered for service, have reached Hie Defence authorities from all parts of the country, and there is already in existence a long list of person.? to whom clause 35 may apply. There is still time for the men concerned to enlist voluntarily without waiting for the long arm of the conscription law. But the time is short, since arrangements are being made for the Military Boards to begin theii work within the next few weeks, and the first business probably will be the consideration of the cases of certain laggard families.

"I would like to see a lot more of the Dominion's young men enlisting before the conscription law begins to operate," said a member of the Recruiting Board yesterday. "Something like 00,000 of our liien have offered their services already, and every one of them, whether he was accepted or not, belongs to the proud army of the New Ze.vlanders who were willing and ready. There is still time for other men, especially unmarried men, to join that army, before we begin to apply compulsion. It will still be possible for men to enlist as volun-

teers when the Miliary Service ■ Act is in full operation; we hope, indeed, that the, volunteers will always be in a majority in every draft. But the shadow of conscription will *be there, whereas this week, and for a few more weeks, a man may enter camp without any fear of being embarrassed when he meets the bravo fellows at the front.''