GENERAL RESERVE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 August 1940, Page 5

GENERAL RESERVE

ENROLMENT OF FIRST DIVISION UNMARRIED MEN 19 TO 45 INCLUSIVE. CHANGE OF ADDRESS MUST BE NOTIFIED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. A proclamation was issued today directing the enrolment of the First Division of the General Reserve created under the National Service Emergency Regulations, 1940. The effect of the proclamation was explained by the Minister of National Service, Mr i Semple, who said that this division of the reserve consisted entirely of unmarried men, aged 19 to 45 years (both inclusive), who were natural-born British subjects (other than Maoris). It was subdivided into the following three classes: —Class A: Those aged 21 to 40 years (both inclusive). Class B: Those aged 19 to 20 years. Class C: Those aged 41 to 45 years (both inclusive). The Minister said that Maoris of half-blood or over, were not includ-i ed in the first division of the reserve. “Any reservist of an enrolled class who has not received his certificate within 28 days and who then fails to apply for it, may be prosecuted for committting an offence against the regulations and may, on conviction, in addition to other penalties, be immediately called up for service without participating in a ballot,” Mr Semple states. “A point to be noted particularly is that certificates will be issued only to reservists of the first division —that is to say. to single men aged 19 to 45 inclusive.

“Reservists who have changed their residential addresses between the time when they registered and the date of the proclamation must notify the fact forthwith by registered letter (which is post free) to the Director of National Service, and any who subsequently change their addresses must send a similar notification within seven days of the change. It is most important that the Director should at all times i be in possession of the current addresses of reservists so that the certificates of enrolment may be delivered without delay. Since employers arc forbidden to employ any person eligible for the first division who has not enrolled the necessity for the possession of a certificate will be obvious from the point of view of both the employer and the employee. "The procedure outlined will result in the register being kept as up-to-date as is practicable, so that it. will be ready at short notice for the taking of a ballot for the selection of recruits for the armed forces when necessity arises, and in their own interests to avoid a penalty, and in the interests of New Zealand's war effort, all persons concerned are urged to make sure that they are enrolled, and that they receive their certificates of registration."