RECRUITING AND REGISTRATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 October 1916, Page 4

RECRUITING AND REGISTRATION.

A PINAL WARNING. ACKNOWLEDGMENT CARDS ISSUED SUSPECTS'TO BE ROUNDED UP, By Telcgraph.-Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The chairman of the Recruiting BoarJ has issued the following statement :- lhe work of preparing the registers ot the first and second divisions of the Expeditionary Force Reserve under the Military Service Act Ss now proceeding apace. It » just possible that the quotas of the new group recruiting districts for the 23rd Reinforcements (the November draft), will be based on the men available in the first division of the reserve, but in any case for taking a ballot, should voluntary re. cruiting not produce the men required, will then be in full working order. The Recruiting Board is very satisfied with the manner in which men of military ago have responded to the proclamation and enrolled in the reserve, but, while this response has been quite up to expectations, I have reason to believe that a number of reservists have not enrolled, and I desire to sound a final note of warning. Every man of military ago who applied for Tils certificate of enrolment should now have received a card of acknowledgment. If any man has not got this card it must be because either his application or the acknowledgment card has gone astray in transit. His proper course is to at once forward another application to the Govornnicnt Statistician, because it is not intended to await the issue of the certificates of enrolment before taking action in the case of men who there is reason to believe are evading their legal obligation. In view of the probable early application of the ballot, it Iwould be manifestly unjust to permit any man, by reason of the fact that he has not enrolled, to increase the chances of citizens who have loyally done their duty, and therefore it is intended to round up all suspects and ask them to produce an acknowledgment card" as proof that they have applied for a certificate o! enrolment.

I wish to make it clear that it is not proposed to immediately take advantage of the general provisions of Section 44* which empowers a constable to question any man who may reasonably be jmpf posed to bo of military age. Present action is to be restricted to spociflt cases where the Government Statisticiae or the police have reason to beliove that men have not registered. On conviction, all such men will be called up for *ervice with the Expeditionary Force under Section 34 of the Act.

(Signed) J. ALLEN,