TERRITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23053, 22 June 1940, Page 17

TERRITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

TO THE EDITOR Of THE PRESS. Suv —Regulations providing for compulsory national service are now being put into force in the Dominion. We were promised that "conscription would not be introduced until the voluntary method was extended to its limit. It may interest the Christchurch public to know that about a month ago several outstandingly physically fit young men, men whose training includes physical work and plenty of it. men who must pass a Government medical examination before they are selected for their job,’ went to the local barracks with intentions of enlisting in the territorials. Names were taken on a scrap of paper and we were told that we would hear from them when we are wanted. Now preparations are well under way for a three months’ camp and still we have heard nothing from the authorities. They have not even made inquiries as to the number holding military rank; Those I speak of are Training College students, who are handicapped by being in such a position that they cannot be accredited with their certificates until half their training is completed, and consequently are not in a position to go overseas, with their interests safeguarded, until half of that training is completed. In the circumstances, many of the students are keen to join up with the home forces and receive what experience they can. This neglect on the part of the military authorities, with things as they stand to-day, is hard to understand. Not only Training College students are affected. My name was added to a long/ list, and I presume these men are in the same position that we are. Even if the territorial forces are at full strength, with the recent developments and the possibility of compulsory training, provision, should be made for the addition of these men, either by placing fully-trained men on reserve to make room for others, or forming new units to accommodate

the volunteers, under officers from the reserve. Whatever they do, before using compulsion, voluntary offers should be appreciated and dealt with accordingly. This negligence on the part of the authorities must mean either that their papers are not filed properly and have been lost, in which case their methods want revising, or that they have merely failed to act; and this is inexcusable.—Yours, etc., STUDENT. June 1 18, 1940. [Commenting on this letter, Lieu-tenant-Colonel Bongard, of the General Staff, Southern Military District, says; “The statements apparently refer to the Canterbury Regiment. At the time mentioned, the battalion was up to strength and no new enlistments could bo made. The names and addresses of all suitable men offering were, however, kept on a waiting list. On Saturday next the medical examination under the new training scheme of members of this unit is expected to be completed. Immediately thereafter, the men on the waiting list, to the number required to make good the vacancies caused by those who failed to pass the medical examination. will be notified to attend for medical examination on June 29. The correspondent ‘Student’ will probably be among those so called up.”]