OLDER MEN TO REGISTER

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23588, 16 March 1942, Page 6

OLDER MEN TO REGISTER

USE FOR ESSENTIAL WORK WOMEN AGED 20 TO 21 ALSO NEEDED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 14. Men between the ages of 46 and 50 and women between the ages or 20 and 21 will shortly be required to register with a view to undertaking vitally important national service. This announcement was made by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) on Saturday. “Vitally important national service will be available for men who have been found medically unfit for military service for which they were called up, said Mr Fraser. “They will honourably serve their country in defence works and various essential war industries and other activities which link up with the main war effort. They will be really part of the national organisation for winning the war. “Men of 46 to 50 will be obliged to register for the purpose of interview, selection and direction into suitable essential work. The first class of women to be called upon to register will be those of ages 20 and 21. “The general procedure for men will be by interview with the district manpower officer or his representative, followed by classification and direction when required. Interviews with women will be carried out in conjunction with the Women's War Service Auxiliary, but directions into essential work will be given by the district manpower officer, who is in touch with labour needs. “Special registrations of men in certain occupational or other groups and special directions into essential work may also arise as necessity requires. “In addition to the compulsory registration for persons in the classes mentioned. the same machinery will provide for the direction of those offering to undertake work of national importance, where they are not already engaged in it. “All persons directed into essential work in terms of these new arrangements will be entitled to the full protection of the Occupational Re-estab-lishment Emergency Regulations, 1940, in the same manner as if they had been soldiers called up for military service. “Within a few days the met' od of registration will be announced." concluded Mr Fraser. “The Government has full confidence in the people of New Zealand to recognise and appreciate the truth that every possible effort must be made to mobilise and use the full strength of the country in the strenuous fight for victory. "Every possible precaution must be taken against waste or loss of labour, time, and material. Every New Zealander must and will help to save New Zealand—a salvation linked up with the saving of civilisation, and to organise so that we can co-operate with our Allies in the defeat of our enemies and the advance to victory in the Pacific and elsewhere.”