HOME SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 June 1917, Page 6

HOME SERVICE.

THE OBLIGATIONS OF RESERVISTS. >- (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Juno 13. Since the Military Service Act came into operation many thousands of men have been classified as fit for Home Service only. The Minister for Defence has stated recently that men of 43 to 45 years of age are to be employed only in Home Service, since the military authorities prefer not to send thorn into the firing line. There appears to be doubt in some quarters as to what Home Service really is. "Does it mean service in England or New Zealand?" asks a reservist. "What is the natu«c of such service? Would it necessitate the existing military training? Would it, assuming the service relates to New Zealand, mean total military service, or w&uld it permit of a portion of time being devoted to a civil occupation?" The reservist who is placed in the Home Service class comes under clause 14 of the" Military Service Act, which reads: "If the Commandant is satisfied that any man who has been called up for service in the Expeditionary Force is permanently medically unfit for active service beyond the seas, the Commandant shalt . . . exempt him from foreign service, in which case he shall remain a member of the Expeditionary Force liable for military service in New Zealand in such capacity as tho Commandant from time to time thinks fit. Military service as used in this connection means any service in connection with or for the purposes of the present war." The Home Service man is not liable to be sent abroad. He will not be given military training or the ordinary kind, since he is not required to fight. But he is under military orders and he may be required to perform any service "in connection with, or for the purposes of the. present war." The Defence Department, up to the present time, has not imposed any duties at all on Home Service men. Volunteers from this group have been accepted for certain , duties in the military camps, harbor , fortifications elsewhere, and any reservist so employed must leave his i'civilian employment. What further use , the Government will make of tho Home Service men remains to be seen, and depends presumably upon the duration • of .the war. It has been stated already ; that the group is to he re-examined before the mobilisation of the Second Divi- ! sion begins.