THE CALL FOR MEN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2564, 11 September 1915, Page 3

THE CALL FOR MEN

GREAT CHANCES I POSITION IN THE SOUTH ISLAND INFANTRY WANTED From information received by The Dominion yesterday, it is clear that recruiting is very satisfactory in the Wellington Military District. In Wellington City and suburbs there is 110 shortage of men for any branch of the service, but every man is wanted. No shortage of men, and no shortage of opportunities for men, is the position. 'llie men signing on here lately are of very good type physically and otherwise, and all are very keen to get to tho front. If any are disappointed at not being able to get into camp immediately, and fear that their chance of doing a share on active service may be imperilled by slight delay, they might bear in mind the following extract from a letter received recently from Captain W. Hardliam, V.C., who was wounded on Gallipoli:—

"There is plenty of fighting to be done yet, and all those coming will get as much as they want.|' Every man who can enlist is urged to dc- so. From what can be gathered there will be little delay in their reaching camp. '

In the South Island recruiting is not so forward as in the Wellington District. For some time past people in Canterbury have been under the impression that the recruiting figures have been capable of fulfilling all local demands, and the result has been that [ recruiting has languished there. It is, however, felt that it just requires a spur for the enlistments to bo as heavy as they used to be. When it was announced some time ago that a special infantry force had to be raised by June, besides the Seventh Reinforcements, various recruiting agencies went to work, the country districts were invaded, and tho city streets scoured, the resuit being an instantaneous success. Not only were the quotas for the Trentham Regiment and the Seventh Reinforcements made up without any difficulty, but such was the overflow that the Eighth Reinforcements were filled long before they were called up. It is thought'that it only requires the ball to bo set rolling again for the previous success to be once more achieved. It is suggested in Christchurch that an invasion of the picture theatres and the sports grounds would produce very satisfactory results. Meanwhile the' time is very short for action, as the Ninth Reinforcements and the Special Force will be' called up nest month, and the assessment of quotas will probably be made very shortly. The Christchurch "Press" remarks: "If Auckland and Wellington have to make up a Canterbury shortage of recruits, this province cannot complain if invidious comparisons are made at its. expense by the northern districts."

It is said that there are hundreds of men registered for service in Canterbury who have been declared temporarily -unfit at the medical examinations owing to defective teeth and other minor troubles. These men leave the remedying of their defects until the last moment, and if they delay much longer they will find themselves shut out of the Ninths, and their places filled by North Island men. Again, there must be hundreds of men in the Canterbury district who have registered for such branches of the service as the Army Service Corps, the Ambulance, and the Engineers. Only a few men of these units are sent with each batch of reinforcements, and only a small percentage of those tlrns 'registered can be absorbed. If all tho applicants for these branches were to transfer to the Infantry, it would go a long way towards making up the shortage that at' present 'exists. . I In Otago energetic efforts are being made to enrol as many men as possible within tho next few days, and it is probable that the Hon. Dr. M'Nab will speak at a recruiting rally in Dunodin on Monday night. Infantry is wanted in Otago, and men who have registered for other tranches are being requested to transfer to tho infantry. The following are the latest enlistments 'in Wellington:— Nicholas. Peters, clerk, City.', , John M'Kenzie, grocer, City. ,Wm. Clarence Jarvis, City.