11

H.—l9

the discipline at the casual camps has been particularly good this year, which, in view of a certain absence of uniforms and equipment and a shortage of permanent instructors resulting from the War, is indicative of a most creditable spirit in the rank and file. 37. Prosecutions. Appendix E gives a return of prosecutions under the Defence Act from the Ist May, 1914, to the 30th April, 1915. During the above period the percentages of convictions to prosecutions were as under: Territorials, 90-50; Senior Cadets, 81-87. These figures show a marked increase on the percentages for the same period last year, which were 86-68 and 81-66 respectively. Compared with the figures for the previous year, the number prosecuted during the twelve months ended 30th April, 1915, show a decrease of 1,800 in the Territorial Force! and 1,034 in the Senior Cadets; and this must be considered very satisfactory considering the increase in the strength of the Forces. 38. Detention. There has been no departure from the prevailing system of detention during the past year. Detention is awarded by the Magistrates for failure to pay fines imposed for breaches of the Defence Act, and the sentence is undergone in prescribed places of detention under the control of the various Os.C. Detachment Royal New Zealand Artillery. As emphasized in the report of last year, this imposes on the officers and N.C.O.s of the R.N.Z.A. an irksome and extraneous duty, from which they might well bo freed in order to permit them to give their full time to their normal special duties. It is therefore again recommended that detention be restricted as a punishment for military offences committed on duty, and that persons failing to carry out their statutory obligations be dealt with and punished by the Civil Courts. Repeated defiance of the Act might well be met by limitation or deprivation of the franchise. It Would also be of benefit to the scheme if a uniform scale of fines were adopted throughout the Dominion by Magistrates for the various breaches of the Act. During the period from the Ist May, 1914, until the 30th April, 1915, eleven men have been placed in military detention, as compared with 234 for the previous twelve months. Seven Were committed twice, two three times, and one five times. Whilst a certain proportion of this marked decrease can bo attributed to a temporary withholding of convictions made nccessaiy by lack of detention accommodation and staff, due to the mobilization of the R.N.Z.A., it may safely be assumed that the enlistment in the Expeditionary Force of previous objectors to military training has been a larger factor in reducing the numbers. 39. Medical Examinations. The medical examinations Were carried out on the same lines as in previous years. During the year .1914, 8,223 recruits for the Territorial Force Were medically examined. Of those, 246 (3 per cent.) Were classified as unfit to serve during the current year, and 415 (5 per cent.) Were declared totally unfit for service. 7,562 recruits Were found to be fit for service in the Territorial Force and General Training Section. 40. Registration. The total number of registrations for military training recorded since the inception of the scheme of universal service up to the 30th April, 1915, is given in detail hereunder :• —

Thanks are due to the police for assisting to trace those who Were evading service during the year. They have been instrumental in procuring convictions of approximately 600 shirkers who were untraceable by the Defence Department. 41. Posting. After the annual posting of June, 1915, the Territorial Force will be approximately at full strength, and men who were twenty-one years of age at the first posting of 1911 will pass to the Reserve. The scheme is based on a seven-years cycle, covering the service of a soldier from the age of eighteen to twenty-five years, and provides for the posting of seven annual quotas of sufficient strength to bring the Territorial Force up to its maximum legal establishment of 30,000 at the end of the first cycle, and thereafter to make good the numbers passing to the Reserve on completion of their seven years' service. In order to place the Territorial Force on a working basis, the first posting of 1911 combined three quotas, and included men of the age of eighteen to twenty years. After the 1912 posting of another quota, it Was found that various factors had been at Work, which could not be foreseen at the commencement of the scheme, and which by causing an undue shrinkage upset the initial calculations. In 1913 posting was systematized and simplified, and provision Was made for a hard-and-fast annual quota designed to procure an even flow of recruits into the Territorial Force, and a correspondingly

District. Territorials. Senior Cadets. Totals. Luckland ianterbury )tago Wellington 9,677 6,686 6,406 8,804 13,419 15,446 10,704 18,155 23,096 22,132 17,110 26,959 Totals 31,573 57,724 89,297