SAMPLE FIRST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 236, 5 October 1936, Page 7

SAMPLE FIRST.

EFFORT TO AID RECRUITING. LONDON, September 28. Owing to the serious failure of the recruiting campaign the War Office is exploiting innumerable novel schemes, one of which is the unique experiment of inviting 30 unemployed men to take a week's free holiday with the forces as an unofficial try-out. If they don't like the life, they need not join. The men will be guests of the Ist Battalion, Royal Berkshires, and the 2nd Battalion, Queen's Own Royal West Kents, at the seaside garrison of Sliorncliffe. The idea is that the visitors, by playing games with the soldiers and generally sharing their social amenities, shall obtain first-hand experience of Army life. "They'll have the pleasures of the troops, but none of the duties," an officer told an interviewer. "At the end of the week, there will be no obligation to join up, but we hope that some will do so." Unemployed single men aged from 18 to 25 in specified areas will be invited to present themselves at the local recruiting offices. After medical examination and a simple educational test, they will be taken out on tour to see the troops at physical training, machinegun and anti-aircraft training, rifle shooting and other activities. It is possible that they may be allowed to join in drills in the afternoon. They will take part in football, mix freely with the men in the canteens, and "discover what Tommy really thinks of Army life. Each man will be given a certificate promising that there will be no compulsion. He may enlist at the end of the week or go home with his unemployment rights unaffected.