TO REACH THE BACKBLOCKS MAN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2479, 4 June 1915, Page 6

TO REACH THE BACKBLOCKS MAN

j (To the Kdltor.) [ Sir, —As a rot'.uhir subscriber to your paper, 1 liiive followed with consider- S .'ililo interest the various letters which | have appeared in .your columns on fiio riucKliou of Ihc failure of I lie present < scheme of recruiting for the Reinforce- i mciits. The dillicull.v Lhiib exists at present is undoubtedly how to get single nii'ii to enlist. We have thousands of single men wo can call on yet, before married men need be approached ; and it is a serious tiling indeed for I lie IX)inioiou lo have lo contemplate the snpportiim of the widows anil children of 1 those married men who fall in the lield. and I hose who return incapacitated 11 <1111 follow mi; their ordinary avue.'ltlOU Now. Sir. as one who lias lived ill ' nil desei uitiiiiis o| our ,\eu Zealand ' settlement:,, both liaekhlni lis and metropolis, the petition lias appeared to nio in a dill ei i ni hi'.lit, and I I liinl, I ha I llle fill \ 1 1 1 the ;ie,||e||e,s at I lie | .| • sent limit, en t is I In-. : Thai we arc; taili 11L', I" reaeil these \ 111111 inell nhil ! * l ,"li I'l lie volunteer,,,,. The ell v 1 dweller w-nllld lie ,1 nd, d ,|„| |, e I- I lew' til.l, ,|! ! i'e i.;,i k Meek , ni|tltl>eT-. ot our .vomit: 111011 uovur tou e. nows-i.

paper more than once a week, and many not at all. and are quito ignorant of tho seriousness of tho position. Ilicy havo never heard of tho Gallipoli peninsula, lots of them haying had little or 110 education. They work hard from early to dark, then go to Iniuk; and it is so they live. Now, these young men, with three mouths' training, would make the finest soldiers in tho world. They are strong, healthy, and as brave as lions. Let us glance at our recruiting lists, and what do we see:' Clerk, boiler-maker, draper, etc., in fact, anything but fanner and baok-blockor. Now, Sir, wc remember that Mahomet had to go to the .Mount, as the Mount would not come to -Mahomet, and just in this case, 1 feel sure that if our Defence Department commissioned a dozen fluent men of good personality, and sent them into the back-blocks on a recruiting campaign, we should lind theso voting back-blocks giants, who in a great many cases did not know, much more than "that We were having a scrap with Germany," would gladly and readily answer the. Empire's call. Any' disabilities such men may be under, such as compulsory occupation of land, according to the conditions of their grants, could easily be overcome by the Government granting the necessary exemptions. I know of many farmers worth well over £20,000 cach whose total contributions have not reached much more than double figures, and then they think they are doing well, and openly boast about it. If wo are to havo tho burdens of this war equitably distributed. then those who are benefiting by the increase of prices should bo the ones to bear their proportionate share, and the. sootier the Government realise this then tho sooner will justice bo elfected.—l am, etc., BACK-BLOCKS. [This letter has been condensed.— Ed. Dominion.]