RECRUITS FOR ARMY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23087, 1 August 1940, Page 8

RECRUITS FOR ARMY

+ TOTAL UNDER VOLUNTARY SYSTEM {PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, July 31. Final returns of voluntary enlistment over the whole Dominion for service with the 2nd Now Zealand Expeditionary Force show the total to July 22, when the voluntary system ended, to bo 60,812. Of those who have been before medical boards up to that date, 39,936 have passed fit. and 9277 have been declared permanently unfit. At the end of last week, there were 5328 awaiting medical examination. Important occupations held back 3037. A total of 24.494 has been sent to camp and 10,238 are awaiting dispatch to camp. GENERAL LEAVE FOR TROOPS TRANSPORT ARRANGEMENTS MADE Members of the 3rd Echelon of the - New Zealand Expeditionary Force will commence their annual leave to-day. The men now in camp at - Burnham will go on general leave, as announced in “The Press” yesterday, and the necessary transport arrangements have been made. Men from North Auckland, Auckland city, Hamilton. Rotorua area, Bay of Plenty, and 'Shames will go north today. On Friday the men to go north will be those from Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne, Manawatu, Wairarapa, and Wellington city. Departures to-day will also include troops from Nelson, Picton, West Coast, Christchurch, North Canterbury, South Canterbury, North Otago, Dunedin, South Otago, Southland, and Invercargill. The specially-raised railway, forestry, and army trodps engineer companies are included. The return dates are August 12, 13, and 14. TINWALD PILOT REPORTED MISSING ■ Mr and Mrs E. Kirdy, of Tinwald, have received advice from the Air Ministry that their son, Pilot Officer M. J. A. Kirdy, has been reported missing after air operations on Monday. Pilot Officer Kirdy is aged 19. He attended the Ealing primary school and the Ashburton District High School, and was a prominent member of the Tinwald Cycle Club, winning several cycling championships. After leaving Ashburton he was employed on the clerical staff of the North Canterbury Hospital Board. Later he joined the Air Force and completed his training in January this year. He left for England in February, and was stationed with a bomber command in Oxfordshire.