THE POWER OF THE PRESS,

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 49, 26 February 1916, Page 6

THE POWER OF THE PRESS,

((Spectal to "Star.") WELLINGTON, this day. "I would like to see a little more enthusiasm, but the. recruiting movement is going on steadily." remarked the Prime Minister to your correspondent, when asked for a progress report upon the new system. "The Thirteenth Reinforcements are full, and now we commence on the Fourteenth. Every four weeks we etart on a new draft, so that there is continual need for activity." The Prime Minister looks forward to a fresh accession of strength to the recruiting movement as a result of definitely allocating to public men a share in the responsibility of keeping up the number of recruits, and it is to be hoped that he will not be disappointed. .Wellington has taken up the new system with a business-like swing, but in spite of this apparent enthusiasm, it is quite evident that the motive force is still coining from the men who before the Recruiting Board came into being, had been co-operating heartily with the Defence Department in bringing men into the recruiting office.

A feature of the Board's work which gives hope of good results is a new-born inclination to make the most of printer's ink in the recruiting campaign. Recruiting literature of the official kind has hitherto been rare as sovereigns are under war conditions. During a whole year of recruiting activites the Defence Department l '■ only jusued two -'posters. The authorities depended on. the newspapers to make public the nation's need, and the nature of the response. Minister's manifestoes were distributed by telegram from Wellington at the expense of the Press, but increased wiring charges have made the newspapers wary of running to the extreme in this respect, willing as they have been to spend in a good cause. The Recruiting Board has begun to show some enterprise in publishing, and this side of its work deserves to be extended if recruiting canvassers are to be well armed for their somewhat delicate work. The Prime Minister's fine appeal to New Zealand's manhood has been officially reprinted from the newspapers with effective headings, and a display of large type which would startle the official printer, who prefers to leave effect out of his calculations when turning out a handbill. It is understood, also, that the Recruiting Board will bring out a second edition of the handbook for recruits entitled "England Expects," as a good deal of fresh information for young men about to enter military service is now available.