UNIVERSAL CALL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 November 1941, Page 7

UNIVERSAL CALL

ON MEN AND WOMEN IN BRITAIN NEW CONSCRIPTION BILL. MR CHURCHILL TO GIVE DETAILS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, November 27. Every man and woman in Britain will bp liable for conscription under a Bill which Parliament is likely to pass within a fortnight. The Prime Minister, 3lr Churchill, will announce the details at Parinent’s next meeting.

The Government’s powers, it is said, will not be limited by age, sex, class or employment, but in practice the immediate plans envisage the call-up of men from 18 to 50 years old and women from 18 to 40, and also the conscription of younger women for the Wrens, A.T.S. and Waafs with the proviso that they will not be compelled to serve in combatant branches like searchlight and anti-aircraft units. The principle of reservation by occupation will disappear by the raising of the age of reservation by a year each month after Christmas. Most women and older men will be drafted into war industries and civil defence and men over 40 will be employed on “second line” jobs. Special tribunals will deal with cases of hardship, including those of women with special domestic ties and the wives of servicemen.

The first step is likely to be the callup of women between 20 and 25 for the A.T.S., for which 200,000 are needed immediately.

Large numbers will not be affected by the Bill because they are already considered to be in jobs best serving the war effort.