THE NEXT BALLOT.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1918, Page 5

THE NEXT BALLOT.

CLASS THREE WILL SUFFICE THREE MORE BALLOTS. (From Our Special Correspondent.) Wellington, July 3. T!:c recruiting authorities have decided that the next Gazette summoning reservists for service with the Expeitionary Force shall be issue en July 24, five weeks after the publication of the last Gazette. The Gazette will contain the names of another draft of men selected by ballot from Class C, Second Division. It is likely that the number of men drawn this month will be 5000. Class C contained originally about 26,000 men, of whom 10,000 were drawn last month. The balance of about 16,000 men will suffice for the July, August, and September ballots if the draw is reduced to 5000 per month. Volunteers are still being accepted for the 44th Bcinfonrment, which will J>e mobilised next week. The response to the call for volunteers for this draft has ■been excellent, but there is still room for some more recruits. Men who have been drawn in the ballots and set down for later dates may volunteer to enter camp this month. Volunteers arc also being accepted for the August, September, and October drafts. This is a reversion to the. old system of allowing men to volunteer for drafts three months ahead. The system was suspended temporarily in order that efforts might bo concentrated on the draft immediately ahead, but the need for this no longer exists. The August and September drafts (•tilth and 40th Reinforcements) now contain more than 1300 men each. It is expected that recruiting will be closed shortly for these drafts. The men becoming available, voluntarily or by ballot, will then be posted to the October

draft ('47 th Reinforcement). They are likely to include most of the first batch o f Class C men, drawn in the last ballot. These arrangements would be altered by a reduction of the reinforcement quota in the near future, but there is yet no official information on that point. Men who have been posted already to the August, September, and October drafts will be well advised not to count upon any alteration in their mobilisation dates. The number of 01 men entering the CI camp this week is approximately SIS. The First Division is at present supplying about 400 men a month to the reinforcement camps. This number includes nineteen-year-old and twenty-year-old volunteers, twenty-year-old youths called eompulsorily, and transfers from the CI camp.