WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 November 1916, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE FIRST BALLOT. PROCEEDINGS DESCRIBEL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, iN'ov. 10. The first ballot taken under the Mil ! - tary Service Act was in progress during thi-\ morning and this afternoon in the upper storey of a Wellington building Space was limited and only a few newspaper men and other privileged people had the opportunity to watch the proceedings, but the camera and the kinomatograph recorded the main incidents of the ballot and the people of Sm Zealand generally will have the ehancj later to see for themselves how the selection of reservists for active service was made. The outstanding impression left upon the minds of tho spectators was that the system was absolutely fair Every one of the 80,000 or so men enrolled in the First Division of the Expeditionay Force Reserve had his chance oi being drawn. No favoritism or fraud could have been introduced at any stage of the proceedings without the connivance of the presiding magistrate, the.Government Statistician, several departmental officers and some fifty alert ■ young women who were the means of transmitting the decision of the ballot box to the drawers in which the reservists' cards were arranged.

'...'lie method of balloting lias been described already. The precautions taken at every stage were elaborate. The Government Statistician, in explaining the system to the visitors, emphasised the fact that there was a double cheek on every operation. If a card had been lost or destroyed after being .withdrawn from one of the boxes in consequence of the ballot, the absence of the ca r i! would be detected and it would be possible for the officers to discover what man the card had represented. Th? mcgistrate personally saw that every marble went into the barrel. He supervised the drawing and mad.; sure that the right number was announced to thegirls. Then the girls turned up the conosponding card in each box so as tj export the district number I.it not tl-.o u.ime The magistrate took IH> ru! froiu the box if it came from a. district that need recruits, and handed it to the .lovernmei/, Statistician, wii'.'a c-cher officers made a record of the transaction. 'I he girls did not see the names at all The magistrate did not see the names until he had removed the cards from the boxes Tli" 'Swi'istician hai? s'mply to receive the cards handed to him. The whole operation was conducted under the eyes of everybody present in the root a. Sixteen draws were taken during the day. yiehl'ng aboi;(- half the ;.uu , :;:u-r of met, re-pm-ed. The jioceedini(s will be eontime:! 10-inosrow. and in the n'.osnt'ire the room is being guarded oy the police, while the magistrate holds the key of the barrel in which the marbles are contained. The drawing will be completed to-morrow, but probably it will be Monday or Tuesday before the magistrate isready to hand to tha Recruiting Board his certified list of the men selected for service. Then the name will be gazetted and each of the recruits will receive a telegram, followed by a registered letter, informing him that his country needs him.