CANADA AND THE WAR.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15768, 8 December 1916, Page 9

CANADA AND THE WAR.

♦ ! < NATIONAL ORGANISATION. 1 < (FROil OCR OWN COBRESPON-DEXT.) TORONTO, October 20. \ The Department of Trade and Commerce has received, in a report from Canadian Trade Commissioner Beddoe, of Auckland, an. account of New Zealand's progressive and equitable method of distributing taxation during wartime. The proposals now before the House of Representatives in the way of war measures are thought applicable also to Canadian conditions. Mr Beddoe reports good trade conditions, imports increasing, money plentiful, and that tho business world appears full of confidence. These conditions of prosperity obtain, also to a great extent in Canada, but this Dominion certainly lacks what New Zealand has in the way of system in taxation equitably bearing upon the different classes in the community, and in national organisation of man-power and resources generally for the war. Jo is true ttiat a Chief Director of National Services has been appointed— Sir Thomas Tait —with assistant-direc-tors, one for each jjrovince or district of about that area; and these directors have met in Ottawa, and conferred about their work, outlining in a general way their mode of operation; but the Chief I>irector, Sir Thomas Tait, has resigned, owing to some difference between him and the Government over the appointment of a secretary to the Board of Directors —it is hinted that this was not the only causc- of trouble, and it is even said that eonie of the other directors are contemplating resigning, objecting to having their hands tied politically—and Mr R. B. Bennett, M.P. for Calgary, on P of the Board, has been made Chief Director. Meanwhile, nothing is being effectively done for the registration of the manpower of Canada, the purpose for which the Board was constituted, for it was not to have anything to do with recmiting in particular, but simply to find out what men of military age are eligible for military service, what men j are required or more useful in the work in which they are engaged .at j present, either munitions or other in " dustries or in agriculture; also to ascertain the available woman-power for munitions or other work to release men for war scrvice: the actual recruiting was 1 o be done by the military authorities. The Board was to give certificates and badges to such men as volunteer for military service, but are deemed by the directors more useful to the State in the other work in which they are. Men who enlist and are afterwards found by the District Director to be more needed in their old occupation, it was provided, might be released to resumo that occupation. The registering of tho available supplies of woman labour, and securing its proper distribution to till gaps left bv enlistment of men, was to be in the hands of vf omen's National Sen-ice Boards. Two directors were allotted to the three Maritime Provinces (for Halifax and St. John), and one each for the remaining military districts of Quebec, Montreal. Kingston, Toronto, London, "Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, and Victoria. There was no hint in the Order-m-Council constituting tho Board of National Services of compulsion, even for the men classified as best suited for enlistment. And even this plan, so far as it goes, not yet put into operation. . The need of women in the making or munitions has become so obvious in Canada that the Imperial Munitions Board has appointed Miss "Wiseman, who had valuable experience in England as secretary to her brother, Sir Wm. "Wiseman, in important war work, to act between employers and employees, in a move towards forcing manufacturers to employ Vomen, where necessary,' to keep up the output of munitions. Miss Wiseman has been interested in the real estate business in Toronto, and has already done a great deal of very fine work to help recruiting, being possessed of a clear head and a tactful manner, which make her persona grata to all who know her. The Imperial Munitions Board has further taken up the matter of housing properly the women workers in the various towns and cities where munition plants may be situated; in this it has enlisted the assistance oi the Young Women's Christian Association, which has done much in this way in England, W a Military Purposes Committee has been formed for this work. . . . . The falling-off in recruiting during the past two or three months, due w several causes combined, has cmphasised the imperative of systematic method of adjusting tho supply of mer to meet the calls both of war and °> industry, and particularly in view ol the heavy losses on the Sommo front During the month of September th£ recruits were fewer than the wastage, being only 6351. In the fortnight of the month .Montreal district showed up well, with ®00, nearlv double th c enlistment of any other district: British Columbia camc second with 434, and Toronto district next with 367. London district had 187 Kingston and Ottawa district 349, Quebec 06, the Maritime Provinces 228 Manitoba and Saskatchewan 235, and Alberta 391. Tho aggregate enlistment; of Canadians to the end ol September was 365,867, to which ISo. - Military District, with Toronto as headquarters, contributed 82,830; ManitobaSaskatchewan 73,895. lvingston-Ottawa 38,535. British Columbia 3-3.871, Alberta 33,147, the Maritime Provinces 33,0/4, London 30,500, and Quebec Province 7206. The enlistment has since (up to the 18th inst.) come to 368,863. About 8000 soldiers have so far returned to Canada from tho front, discharged as unfit for further active service . Most of these have been incapacitated by wounds, and will receivc pensions for the rest of their lives. In .England there are several thousand more members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in hospitals who will probablv never be a bio to back to the front, and will be sent to Canada foi discharge as soon as sufficiently convalescent. By the end of the present year Canada's pension roll will likely be considerably over 10,000. Up to October 11th the total number of casualties among officers and men of tho Canadian Expeditionary Forces was 52,026, according to figures compiled by the Casualty Record Office, as follows: —Killed in action 8134, died of wounds 3120, died of sickness 402, presumed dead 1009, missing 1372, and wounded 37,939. As there seems to be on the part oi both political parties an aversion tc compuLsory service, there appears no prospect of conscription in the immediate future, although many voices, and influential ones too, are being earnestly raised in the Press and on the platform and in the pulpit for this as the fairest, and now a necessary, method of raising the men needed. That ministers form good recruiters seems to be recognised by the military authorities, for out of the thirteen Chief Recruiting Officers in Canada seven are Methodist ministers. Clergy of other denominations, too, are taking an active part, the Anglicans especially. The latter denomination is the largest numerically in tb*> Dominion, and tn« Methodists pfobablv stand The Rev. Dr. S. D. Chown, General buper- . intendent of the 'Methodist Church in Canada, has been made an_ honorary colonel, in recognition of his personal activity in this line, and of his Churchf fine measuring up to its duty in regard to enlistment. The Chief Recruiting .Officer for tho Dominion is Lieutenant-

Lionel the "Rev. C. G. Williams, who vas pastor or a Methodist Church in an Eastern Ontario town. 'iwo other ilh:;stors of the same denomination, md of the same name, Williams, are Jhief Recruiting Officers in their reactive districts. Tho Universities Companies continue :o send reinforcements to the .now : amous regiment, the Princess Patricia s z Canadian Light Infantry. A platoon .vhich left Canada in July reached the , trenches in September, qualified commissioned officers in its number: a second platoon "will go overseas shortly, or has already started, a third is being recruited by the 6th University Company in Montreal. Th 0 batteries are sending over frequent drafts of well-trained men: fourteen infantry battalions, two at Niagara and thq rest at ('amp Borden, were notified to bo ready to proceed overseas in the latter part of September, and several of these hav c already started eastward. None of them will go into winter quarters in Canada. The camps will be broken up probably ov November Ist, if not a few days sooner, some of the battalions having already gone to their winter assignments, and some being on the way there, trekking from camp, or part of the way, an( i picking up recruits as they go. Captain the Hon. Rupert Guinness, M.P.. is in Canada seeking to secure the enlistment of 20U0 men for tho R-oyal Naval Canadian Volunteer lieservo. Headquarters have been appointed in tho different provinces, and the naval and military recruiting officers "will co-operate; men serving in tho Canadian Expeditionary Force are not eligible for enlistment, though they may obtain transfers through battalion officers commanding. The volunteers from Canada In the R.C.N. V.R. will form an oveiseas division, on equal footing as regards pay and pensions with the C.E.F., though, owing to tho fact that the pay of sv British bluejacket is much lower than a Canadian volunteer receives hi the C.E.F.. thev will receive whilo serving during the war only that portion of their pay equivalent to their pay as rating in the British -Navy, the remainder being banked for them in Canada or paid to their relatives. Almost immediately on enlistment .they will bo sent to England for training and service with the fighting fleets of the Empire in the North Sea and elsewhere, as required. The men wanted havc to be of good physique, naturalbom British subjects of two generations, enthusiastic and intelligent. Canadian aviators, too, are in demand. The "War Office has asked for many more young men of tho requisite qualifications, and these will be taken to England and trained there without expense to themselves. There, arc now more than 300 Canadian aviators iu the Royal Flying Corps, 250 of them in command of machines at some one or other of the fronts. A gratifying recognition has como to the University of Toronto Training Company for Officers (C.0.T.C.) in the recent appointment of Private 11. J. Johnson, who dropped a position with the Carnegie Institute in Washington, 3>.C., li.b.A., where he was engaged m making a magnetic map of tho earth, to tram at the University here. He lias been appointed assistant to the Superintendent of Compasses and Compos Adjustment for the Admiralty, with the rank of lieutenant. RETURNED SOLDIERS. An Order-in-Council lias been passed by the Federal Government, giving a definite preference to returned soldiers in tho filling of vacancies in the Civil Service of Canada, providing that soldiers who have been honourably discharged and especially men whoso former occupations are no longer open to them because of disability resulting from their military service, shall no chosen for all places in the inside and 'outside service for which they are qualified. When returned soldiers como up for examination no fees are to be required of them, and tho age limit df thirty-five years is not to be enforced against them." The Customs, Postal, Inland Revenue, and Pubbc Works I>epartmentß should be able to absorb ft large proportion of Canada s disabled soldiers, and those who return from the front unfitted by illness for their former occupations. There lias been made a suggestion that the principle laid down in this order might be extended to widows and dependent parents of men who have fallen m battle or died of wounds or sickness. The number of these, to the 11th inst., totalled 12,715, and probably a like number may perish before the war ends, making approximately 2o,(XM). ot whom at least a third would leave widows or dependent pension expenditure will, it is believed run up to more than twenty million dollars a year, and the interest on Canada's war debt will be not less than twenty-five millions a year, making an annual war burden of six dollars per head of the population; anything to lessen this heavy load and at the same time improve the condition of returned soldiers and the relatives of those who will never Teturn. would receive wholehearted commendation and support from the Canadian people.