H.—ll A

(iv) New Zealand's War Casualties 140. As at the end of March of the current year the total casualties suffered by New Zealand during the war stood at 35,363. Total casualties include killed as a result of enemy action, 9,407 ; missing, 948 ; prisoners of war, 6,957 ; wounded, 18,051. Three qualifications to the total casualty figures are — (a) Total prisoners of war as at March of the present year are given as the total actually in captivity at that time, which is somewhat less than the total of persons who have at any time been prisoners. (ft) The total number of casualties under the heading of wounded will include a number of servicemen wounded on more than one occasion, as this figure is a cumulative total of cases reported as wounded. (c) The total casualty figure does not include a small number of casualties (due to accident, sickness, &c.) which have taken place among the Forces in New Zealand itself, nor does it include deaths among the overseas Forces due to natural causes or suicide. 141. Casualties have progressively increased from a total of 13,453 in March, 1942, to 23,486 in March, 1943, to 29,761 in March, 1944, and to 35,363 as at March, 1945. 142. As might be expected, the Army has suffered the greatest absolute and relative number of casualties, the total to date being 29,903. Air Force casualties have also been somewhat heavy at 4,803. Those of Navy have been small but relatively comparable to those of Army. A feature of the statistics of casualties is that if regard is had to casualties resulting in death, the Air Force with 3,012, as against the Army's total of 5,970, has been a heavy sufferer. 143. Table 4 of the Appendix analyses in detail the progressive number of casualties under each of the four headings, killed, missing, prisoners of war, and wounded, for each and all of the Service arms. SECTION lI.—MAN-POWER CALLED UP AND MEDICAL CLASSIFICATIONS (i) Total Persons called up and examined 144. By the end of March of the current year the large total of 370,000 men and 14,800 women had been called up or had volunteered for service with the Forces. 145. If from this total there is subtracted the number of men and women whose medical examination was not undertaken, such, for example, as in cases of confinement in prison, hospital, or mental hospital, disappearance, desertion, &c., the total number of persons to date attested and medically examined for service with the Forces is yielded. As far as can be estimated from the records of the Services, it is in the neighbourhood of 350,000 men and 14,500 women. 146. The cumulative total of individual men attested and examined for service with the Forces is indicated in the table below. In this table allowance has been made for dual attestations and examinations, such, for example, as when attestation and examination for service with different arms of the Forces is completed in the case of one individual, or again as when more than one examination has been conducted by the same arm. Table of Estimated Progressive Totals of Men attested and medically examined (All Service arms) Up to 31st March — 1941 .. .. .. .. .. .. 135,000 1942 .. .. .. .. .. .. 205,000 194-3 .. .. .. .. .. .. 332,000 1944 .. .. .. .. .. .. 342,000 1945 .. .. .. .. .. .. 350,000 147. By far the greatest number of men attested and examined have gone through the Army procedure. If those handled by the Air Force and the Navy in addition to going through the Army attestation and examination procedure are excluded, an estimated total of only 9,000 has been dealt with by the Air Force and 4,000 by the Navy. These men comprised either volunteers entering either the Air Force or the Navy before the introduction of compulsory military service, or under-age volunteers who entered either arm since that date. Due to the difficulty of precisely ascertaining transfers between the Services, the number of persons attested and examined by Air Force and Navy, but not by Army, must be regarded as an approximation subject to considerable reservation. 148. The position of females is more clear cut, as the incidence of overlap in enlistments is negligible. Of the cumulative total of enlistments and examinations—viz., 14,800 —5,500 have been in respect of W.A.A.C.s, 7,900 in respect of W.A.A.F.s, and 1,400 in respect of W.R.N.S. 149. As might be expected from observations made elsewhere upon the stages in the war situation, the bulk of call-up and medical examination work was performed in 1942 and 1943, when mobilization for home defence against a possible Japanese invasion was followed by further heavy mobilization to enable the despatch of man-power to overseas theatres of war. During the last two years the number of persons handled has mainly been confined to men reaching military age. (ii) Volunteers examined 150. Of the total of 350,000 men and 14,500 women examined, 70,000 men and all of the women have been volunteers. 151. Again ignoring overlap in attestations and medical examinations, it has been estimated that 57,000 male volunteers have been attested and examined by Army, 9,000 have been attested by Air Force (and not by either Army or Navy), and 4,000 by Navy (and not by either Army or Air Force).

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