H.—lla

Within the ensuing eighteen months, following the establishment of the Department, further developments had been carried into effect, as follows : — (1) Well over one-third of a million men, comprising the whole of the male civilian population of military age, had been registered for national service, and a great mass of detail work had been carried out in connection with the maintenance of the register. (2) A system of calling men up for service either by lot or by classes had been established, and twelve ballots had been held, with the result that every available single man had been called up for service. 77,040 men had been called for Territorial service, and 80,509 men had been called for overseas service including 34,494 who had previously been called for territorial service. (3) The great bulk of these men had been medically examined, with the result that of those examined — 54-0 per cent, had been glaced in Grade I : 11-5 per cent, had been placed in Grade II : 10-2 per cent, had been deferred or found temporarily unfit : 16'2 per cent, had been placed in Grade III: 8-1 per cent, had been placed in Grade IY. Statistical research had shown that the proportion of balloted single men placed in Grade I fell rapidly with advance in age from — 73 per cent, at age nineteen to • 24 per cent, at age forty-three, while the proportion placed in Grades 111 and IV combined rose from9 per cent, at age nineteen to 54 per cent, at age forty-three. (4) A system of statutory Appeal Boards and Man-power Committees, comprising twenty-six bodies in all, had been established and set in motion. Of the 123,055 individual single men called up for service, 34 per cent, had been affected by appeals, though this included 45 per cent, of the Grade I men. Of these Grade I men affected by appeals— 62 per cent, had been indefinitely postponed from service, while 17 per cent, had been temporarily postponed ; or, looking at the matter in a slightly different way, some 27 per cent, of all Grade I men included in the ballots were granted indefinite postponement from service. By these means special protection was afforded to the continuity of essential industrial activities, and by the end of 1941 a large body of men, numbering over 15,000 (apart from many whose appeals were still unheard), had been held back from the forces. The industrial classes in which the highest proportion had been held back were — Farming Engineering Coal-mining Railways Sawmilling Shipping Butter and cheese factories Police Freezing-works Clergy. Tanneries (5) The special problem of dealing with conscientious oftjectors had been met as follows :— (i) A Special Tribunal had been set up for the purpose of ensuring (a) that conscientious objectors whose appeals were allowed were not thereby placed in a privileged position financially as compared with men in the forces, and (b) that they were engaged in useful work : (ii) In order to deal with those whose appeals were dismissed, but who nevertheless refused service, defaulters' detention camps had been established. (6) Voluntary organizations had beeft established to provide a means of utilizing the services of many thousands of enthusiastic volunteers, as follows : — The Home Guard, The Emergency Precautions Services, The Emergency Fire Service, The Women's War Service Auxiliary, and a great deal of useful service and training was being carried out, in many cases in the face of adverse conditions, by these organizations. At that time the Dominion was committed to the maintenance of—One division overseas : A substantial Territorial Force on a cadre plus part-time training basis : An Air Forcc in the Dominion, together with the supply of personnel for the Empire Air Training Scheme: A Naval force based on the Dominion, together with the supply of personnel to the Royal Navy. Each of these commitments, except the second, involved the indefinite absorption of a steady stream of men by the forces, and the major work which appeared to lie ahead was the provision of this steady stream of man-power. The principal sources of supply were the as yet untapped resources of married men, the inflow of men at the youngest age, and the further releasing of single men held back from service following appeal. The whole outlook appeared to be sufficiently stable for long-range forecasts to be possible, and an elaborate survey and forecast of the gradual exhaustion of the Dominion's man-power resources was made in August, 1941.

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