OUR REINFORCEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 October 1916, Page 6

OUR REINFORCEMENTS.

KEEPING THEM UP. Wellington, October 17. , The impending heavy shortage in the 22nd Reinforcements will emphasise the need for tlie operation of the Military Service Act, and Defence Headquarters is expediting the arrangements as much as possible. But the delay that must occur still before the first considerable group of conscripts can be taken into camp will not necessarily involve an acute situation, that is, the despatch of a reinforcement from New Zealand below strength. The Defence authorities had established a good .position before the recent successive shortages began U trouble them, and although, they have no longer any, men in reserve, the actual deficiency ds not as large as it would appear from the mere bald statement that the 22nd 'Reinforcements are going into camp from 1000 to 120 C' aien short of tlieh proper number. The Reserve, which consisted nominally of 1000 men, gave the training staff a margin on which to work. Then it has been the custom to add five per cent, to the number of men actually required when fixing the. district quotas for a reinforcement, in order to allow for normal wastage. A certain number oi aier had to be .-arried forward f'-om the last reinforcement to leave New Zealand, owing to its strength being above requirements, and the recenttransfers of Artillery and Army Service Corps recruits to other tranches, owing to an accumulation of reinforcements at. the front, have been a factor in easing the situation. It has to be remembered, too, that the big shortage in the 22nd Reinforcements will represent the ac'cumulated shortages of the last thiee drafts, since the quotas were fixed ffith the object of wiping out the previous deficiencies. If the October draft had not been burdened with debits brought forward from August and September, the shortage would not have assumed such large dimensionsc. If the shortage that will he reported at the end of this week can be wiped out when the 23rd Reinforcements go into camp next month the position .rill be regarded by Defence Headquarter,; as reasonably satisfactory, though the training scheme will have been hampered to some extent by the fluctuations in the strength of the monthly drafts. The Defence Department ; s not likely to be in a position to order a ballot under the , Military Service Act before the 23rd Re-1 inforcements enter camp, but some conscripts may be secured during the next four weeks under Clause 35, and there are indications that the number of vol-, untary recruits available for the next draft will be fairly large, in Group 5 (Wellington city and suburbs), for example, about 120 men have already been attested for the 23rd Reinforcements, whereas the number sent into camp today for the 22nd Reinforcements was only H)0. The position in some other districts is stated to 'be less hopeful, but an effort will be made all over the Dominion to promote brisk recruiting luring the next few weeks. The prospect of a very big shortage for the 22nd Reinforcements makes it imperative that the Defence Department should hasten the operation of the Military Service Act, and it is expected that some men will be taken into camp under clause 33, relating to the "family shirker," in the near future. A shortage of 1000 men will not, as above stated, mean an immediate danger of a jhortage in a draft for the front, but the shortage will extinguish the reserve completely, and the fact that the voluntary system has failed to produce the required number of men during three successive months is a clear indication that conscription must be applied .without delay. The necessary arrangements are hem? made is quickly as possible.