ARMY BALLOTS

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1940, Page 8

ARMY BALLOTS

By Telegraph—Press Association.

AMENDED PROCEDURE HON. R. SEMPLE EXPLAINS

DEALING WITH APPEALS

"Wellington, Sept. 9. Important amendments • • to the National Service Emergency Regulations, which have been gazetted, were ' explained by the Minister of National Service, the Hon. R. Semple, in a statement to-day. He said it would De necessary to take a ballot in the near future to secure the necessary number of men to bring the territorial force up to war establishment. To enable the men to be drawn and dispatched to camp with the least delay, it was foimd desirable to alter the original regulations and the provisions were now contained in an amendment for arranging separate ballots for the territorial force and the expeditionary force. Kegister Almost Complete. "The register of the first division is now nearly complete and following the ballot full use will be made of the district manpower committees, including a new orie to be established at Palmerston North," said Mr. Semple. "To expedite the procedure they will deal with all appeals of persons drawn in the ballot for the territorial force, while the armed forces appeal boards provided for under the main regulations will deal with the appeals of men drawn for overseas and with all appeals on account of conscientious objection. Neither the manpower committees nor appeal boards will be empowered to grant exemption from military service. Such appeals will either be dismissed or adjourned and kept under periodical review." Mr. Semple added that after the first ballot he hoped to arrange for persons permanently unfit, such as cripples, excluded from later ballots. Honorary Service Provision.

"The amendments further provide that reservists may be required to provide honorary service where it can be performed without undue interference to their normal occupations. Those whose overseas service is postponed may be required to do territorial training. "Included in the first division of the national reserve," said Mr. Semple, "there will be many reservists who are obviously permanently uhfit for service with the armed forces. In this class there will be men who have already volunteered for service "but have not been accepted on account of medical unfltness, men suffering from permanent disabilities, such as infantile paralysis, persons who have lost a limb, etc., and many other cases. "TJp to the present there has been no authority to exclude such persons from the ballot but power has now been taken in the amending regulations to enable a properly constituted medical board to certify that a person is permanently unfit for service in the armed forces and in such. circumstances the reservist will be transferred to the third division of the reserve and will not be liable to be called up for military service. Unfortunately it will be impbssible to deal with any of these- cases prior to the first ballot. "Power has also been taken," said Mr. Semple, "to ' enable the Minister of National Service to require reservists to perform honorary service, either within any scheme under the Emergency Precautions Regulations, or otherwise. This will enable some obligation of service other than in the armed forces to be placed on reservists who have been drawn [in ballot bute, for any reason have not been placed in the armed forces, where such honorary service can be performed without undue interference with normal occupations." Manpower Committees' Work. Mr. -Semple paid a tribute to the work of- the manpower committees in maintaining a commendable balance between. the requirements of the armed forces and the efficient production of primary and secondary industries, and said that with the knowledge and experience gained these committees would be in a position to handle expeditiously the large volume of work entailed in the examination of the classes of men called in the ballot for territorial service, who are due to go into camp in October. The Minister added that in order to co-ordinate the decisions of the appeal boards, and also to enable the Government's policy in regard to the need for reserving skilled workers in. the more important industries to be given effect to, the Director of National Service was authorised to give a certificate to appeal boards and manpower committees that it was; contrary to the public interest to call certain classes of reservists up for service with the armed forces.