WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1918, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE (From Our Own Correspondent. Wellington, August lfi. It seems almost certain now that the January draft of recruits, as well as the December draft, will be dropped. The Minister for Defence ?iiaj- have something to sa.y on the subject within the next few days. The Defence Department, for the moment, has more recruits than it wants. When the reinforcement quota, that is, the number of men despatched monthly as distinct from the number of men taken into camp, was reduced some weeks ago, the big ballots taken earlier were still producing recruits. Many of the fit men drawn in ea'ch iballot are not ready for mobilisation at the end of the normal leave period. They get extensions from the Military Service Board's or 'Medical Boards and they become available for training later. The extensions and transfers have a cumulative effect, and it follows that the recruiting machine will not always produce men in just the right numbers. Its tendency just now is in the direction of m er-produetion and that is why two drafts are likely to ho dropped altogether.

DROPPING DRAFTS. The recruiting authorities have found that it is easier and fairer to drop a draft altogether than to attempt to cut down drafts that are too large. The number of men posted to the September draft at the present time is approximately 1830. The number of men actually required is, say, 1200. But there is no machinery 'provided in the Military Service Act for effecting a -transfer of (X>o men to a later draft. If applications for transfer were invited, the reservists with the smallest claim to consideration would he the first to ask for a postponement of their military duties. The October draft already contains over 1400 recruits, so that additions are not needed. The present Intention of the recruiting authorities, therefore, is to take into camp the mf-n already posted and then form two reinforcements in the camps from the surplus men. This arrangement appears to mean that some of the married men will not get more than the normal period of training in -New Zealand- All these calculations are based on the assumption that the reduced reinforcement quota will he maintained, and t.hev might have to he revised if the New Zealand Division suffered heavy casualties. Tho casualties during- recent months have been exceptionally light.

THE C 2 MEN. One 01F tlie recommendations of the Defence Commission was that a list of the reservists who have iheen classed C2 (unfit for active service) should he published for general information. This list is now being prepared and "the first portion of it will be in the hands of the printer within the next few weeks. It will contain the names of the First Division men who were originally ekssed Cy and D (totally unfit) and who have not been transferred to the CI or A classifications by the C 3 EC-examination Board. The publication of this list will enatble the public to test some of the reports that are circulated regarding reservists alleged to have evaded their obligations. If a man lias been drawn in the ballot and has wot been sent into camp or posted to a draft not yet mobilised, his name ought to appear in the C2 or D list. Th/> complete list wilt not be available for some time, but the first instalment will be covered before a. start is made with the iSecond Division list.

MCffiE POPULATION. The energetic Minister for Public Health, the Hon- G. \V. Russell, told a Wellington audience yesterday that if he held his portfolio after the war he was going to .put forward some very importtmt proposals. Ho indicated their direction by stating that the State would give direct financial support to the people who were willing to undertake the responsibilities of parentage. lie did not ibelieve it was reasonable to expect men and vromen to raise large families when their own financial position was insecure- Yet it was a plain, economic fact that New Zealand needed more population, that the New Zealand-born baby was the best immigrant the country could possibly secure, and that each additional child represented a national asset worth many hundreds of pounds, ille 'had ascertained from the Government Statistician that if the birth-rate of TBBB had 'been maintained until the present year, the Dominion would have had aib'out a quarter of a million more people than it can boast today. An addition of one baby per hundred of-population per annum would give New Zealand over 500 000 extra citizens New Zealand over 500,000 extra citizens in fifty years.