THE REINFORCEMENTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1918, Page 4

THE REINFORCEMENTS.

DATE OF CALLING UP "B" CLASS. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, .lan. 13. The publication of the Gaz.eUe Extraordinary will complete the fourteenth ballot since the Military Service Act came into operation, und will exhaust class "A" (married men without children). The fifteenth ballot will be taken in clans "H" (married men with one child). The date is not yet fixed. The Defence authorities can afford to allow an interval of two and perhaps three months, between the fourteenth ballot and the fifteenth ballot, without endangering the regular despatch of the reinforcement drafts at the proper strength. Bui. they may choose to proceed with the drawing of the "15" men in order to allow more time than the twelve weeks already promised between medical examination and mobilisation, f<Jr the settlement c! private affairs. The February and March drafts (30th and 37tli Reinforcements) arc full, and the April draft is approaching completion. Most of the lit men of "A" class will be taken into camp after the end of April, and the figures already available confirm the expectation that the class, with accretions from the First Division, will suffice for at least three reinforcements. Then drafts of fit First Division men are reaching the training camps from the CI preparatory camp, and there are also the nineteen-year-old volunteers ,to be taken into account. It appears certain that nine of the "B" class men will be wanted in camp before September, and the date may be later. The date of mobilisation of the "B" class reservists will not be affected by the date of the ballot. If the first ballot in the< second class of the Second Division is taken in February or March the object will be merely to give the men more time to make their preparations. In the event of the ballot being taken say six months in advance of mobilisation, a single medical examination will be regarded as sufficient. The old rule that a man must be examined a second time before entering camp it the first examination had been made more than three months earlier has been abandoned. The only exceptions will be made in the cases of reservists who contract illness of infirmity after the medical examination, and before entering camp. It will be the duty cf these men to inform the authorities in order that a second medical examination may be made. With the issue of to-day's list the number of men called up under the Military Service Act will reach a total of approximately 02,G00. The first ballot was taken in November, 1910. The total number of Second Division inen called ua. all in class "A", is 13,800.

It is understood that Mr. Blair Mason's plans and report on the proposed extensions to the iNew Plymouth Harbor, will be placed .before tlie Harbor Board at its meeting on Friday next. The furnishings 1,l the New Plymouth Borough Council chamber have now been completed, file work has been executed throughout in stained oak and has a very dignified appearance. The council table is shaped like a horse-shoe, and there are also separate tables for the town clerk, engineers, and press representatives. The chairs are upholstered in leather of a shade in keeping with the woodwork. The mayoral chair has been placed upon a dais, which is surmounted by a canopy of simple and artistic design. The walla of the chamber have been huny with portraits of past Mayors, and the whole furnishings give an impression of completeness and comfort. A secret dancing chamber, belonging to a dissolute society woman and ÜBed for the wildest scenes of pleasure, plava a great part in "The More Excellent Way," the latest Vitagraph film feature showing to-night at Everybody's. Here taJces place the gr.eat fight with temptation made by the youth with an inherited taint. Rudolph Cameron's acting in this scene rises to a supremely high level. Lieut. Geo. Strack, who is home after two years and a half on active service, in the course of an address at the 'Hawera Methodist Church on Sunday night, made some very interestißg references to men he had met, and to services which lie had attended. Ho said that service brought out all that was best in the soldier and made one realise that there was a great deal in the idea of the brotherhood of men. Service at the front revolutionised one's idea of men and proved often that men at whom, in civil life, one was inclined to look askance, proved true heroes and had hearts of gold. Men learned to think less of themselves and more of helping others. His belief, after experience in thc army, was that the great majority of men were keen to help others, and that under a veneer of apparent carelessness, th,ey had a firm faith in true and real Christianity. He instanced a number of services be hart" iittended,_ first in camp, then on shipboard. la'ter in tropical Egypt, and in sunny Prance, behind the lines and right in the firing line, with the German lines only a short distance away. He told of one service held by Chaplain H. L. Blamires about two milon from the front trenches. There were about two hundred men gathered in a church in a town which was now in ruins. While the service was proceeding the Germans began shelling and gradually the shell bursts got closer. The chaplain asked the officer in charge if he should stop. The officer said tliat there was as much danger in any other building, and therefore the service continued to the end, the shells coming as close as fifty yards away. Another service which Chaplain Blamires conducted, and at which Communion was celebrated, was in the front trenches. He said, in conclusion, that one result of thc service was that, it broadened men's minds, and that after all there was very little between the different churches when one came down to fundamental truths.—Star. Anita Stewart and Rudolph Cameron who appear to-night at Everybody's in "The More Excellent Way," are engaged to be married. Police braces Is 9d a pair at the Melbourne, Ltd. Other braces correspondingly low. For instance: Boys' strong braces Is pair, men's extra strong Samson braces Is Gd pair, President braces Is 9d and 2s lid pair, genuine Shirley President braces 3s 6d pair, india-rubber belts, club colors, Is.