MEN OR FOODSTUFFS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 January 1918, Page 6

MEN OR FOODSTUFFS.

DOMINION NOT PRESSED FOR MEN. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Jan. 24. The Prime Minister said the other day that if a choice ha<l to be made, the Imperial authorities preferred men to foodstuffs. Their need of additional soldiers was more pressing than their need for food. Probably he had in mind the fact that the food problem just at present is mainly a tonnage problem. The British Government can load as many food ships as it can provide at ports that are nearer to the United Kingdom than New Zealand ports. There is no£ much reason why New Zealand should be discussing this point at the present time. The Dominion is not pressed for men; in fact, the recruiting authorities are rather embarrassed by the number of men they have in hand. A year ago there was & serious shortage in the reinforcement camps. At present the camps contain a surplus of men, and recruits are in hand for the next three drafts. Tf a producer is forced into camp, it is not because he is urgently needed, but because the Government has ruled that within certain limits the reservists must be taken in the order of their official classification. That is, First Division men must go before the Second Division men, and the Class A man before the Class B man. The Military Service Boards have to hold the balance between public interest and personal hardship. They may send X, who is a married man without children and a producer of foodstuffs, into camp now, because his exemption would set forward the date when Y, who has two children, must enter camp, though Y i s not a. primary producer. The exemption of all the primary producers would not makeit impossible to maintain reinforcements for a considerable time to come, but it would create domestic inequalities and would be regarded in some quarters as a class distinction. Several aspects of this subject have already been discussed by the Military Service Boards, but only broad principles hav» been laid down. The issue, "Men or foodstuffs?" has not yet arise* in an acute form.