Search For Ballot Dodgers Planned

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30348, 25 January 1964, Page 17

Search For Ballot Dodgers Planned

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, January 23. The Labour Department will begin an intensive search for 20-year-olds liable for military training who have failed to register, a departmental officer said today. The search will begin In factories and large places of employment throughout the country in April- It will be held concurrently with the departmental survey into factory employment. At the time of the last ballot, 1500 youths had not registered. There were no more recent figures available to show that this number had

been reduced, the officer said. Letters will be sent to 50,000 employers in New Zealand asking them to inform the departm«-"t of any 20-year-olds who have failed to register. Departmental inspectors will go through factory staff records in an attempt to discover defaulters. When the 196” ballot was held, 4000 youths had not registered for training. During 1963 this figure was reduced to 1500. Of the 2500 unregistered tracked down, most had acceptable excuses, the officer said.

The most general excuse was that the youth had volunteered for training and thought he did not need to register for compulsory training in the Army. A small number were prosecuted and some were forced to go to camp.