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Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8544, 26 September 1907, Page 5

cally amounted to a legitimate demand by the State that citizens should recognise their obligations to their country. He surmised that the training would extend over a period which would assure a satisfactory degree of efficiency being obtained and would probably be carried out early in the mornings and in the evenings, so as not to interfere with the civilian occupation of those con-, cerned. WELLINGTON, September 25. An est mate prepared by the Regis-trar-General's Department gives the approximate number of men in New Zealand between the ages of 17 and 30 years as 125,911. It is the unmarried portion of these who will constitute the first class of the militia, and be first called upon to f€rve» They number 104,371.

Gauging public opinion from the almost unanimously'expressed opinion of the New Zealand press that the time has come when a wider preparation for home defence should be made, and having further regard to the fact that national developments in recent years have increased the risk of war clouds forming in southern seas, the New Zealand Council of Defence has decided that it is imperative to call upon the militia to take more active part in the defence of the colony than they have hitherto borne.

Yesterday a Post reporter spoke to Colonel Robin, first military member of the council, and was told that the council had made the decision mentioned above. The lists are to be compiled forthwith, instructions to that end having been despatched to each defence district of the colony during the last few days. There never has been adequate machinery for compiling these lists, and it will be necessary to depend upon what local facilities there may be. Consequently, the work of compilation will be slow, but it will be persevered in until completion and then the militia will be called upon to perfect themselves in all requisite military duties.

"The Council of Defence desires not to interfere with commerce or trade in any way," said Colonel Robins; "but we do want to train up a defence force that will be competent to defend the country should need arise." THREE CLASSES. ■ The militia will bo divided into tree classes, namely— Class I, unmarried men between 17 and 30. Class 2, married men between 17 and 30, and unmarried men between 30 and 40. Class 3, married men between 30 and 40, and unmarried men between 40 and 45. The Governor, for the purpose of the militia, may from time to time, by any general order, divide any district constituted under the Defence Act into regiment, battalion, or independent company corps or other divisions, and may designate such divisions by such name and number as he may think fit. Work preparatory to the fixing of boundaries f< r such districts as those above specified is now going on, and when the work is completed the districts will be declared. That will be a matter of some little time, and anyone who feels anxious at the prospect may take comfort in the thought that six months must elapse before training the militia can be entered upon. After that date it wilt be necessary for any unmarried man below the age of 30 who wishes to escape drill duties, to take unto himself a wife. Thus he will escape, for naturally it is class 1 of the militia that is called upon to bear the initial brunt of training and service. STATUTORY EXEMPTIONS.

There are statutory exemptions from training and actual service in the militia. They are:— The Judges of the Supreme Court. The members of the Executive Council. The members of the General Assembly. - > The officers of the General Assembly. Secretaries and Under-Secretaries of the General Government. The Judges of the Native Land Court. The Public Trustee. Resident Magistrates. Telegraph clerks. Postmasters, mail carriers, and ferrymen. All officers, clerks, or other persons acting in the management or collection of Customs revenue. Persons employed on railways open for traffic. The clergy and ministers of all religious denominations who shall for the time being be the officiating ministsrs within the meaning of the Marriage Act, 1880. The professors in any college or university. All sheriffs and constables. All warders and keepers and guards of every public prison and lunatic asylum, and the attendants on the sick in every public hospital. Teachers of schools actually engaged in teaching. Seafaring men (other than watermen and boatmen) actually engaged in their calling. All volunteers enrolled under any Volunteer Act for the time being in force within the colony. All persons' afflicted with lunacy, deafness, blindness, or with any other disease or infirmity that may render them unfit for service, such disease or infirmity being duly certified by a medical man appointed by the Governor and paid by the Government for that purpose. Each such certificate shall state the nature of the disease of infirmity under which the claimant is labouring, and distinguish whether it incapacitates him for actual service and trainii.g and exercise, or for actual service only.