HOLIDAYS OR EMPIRE?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2641, 11 December 1915, Page 6

HOLIDAYS OR EMPIRE?

RECRUITS WANTED PRIME MINISTER'S APPEAL i , ' 5 An appeal to intending recruits not .to postpone the -time for entering the •' forces until after the Christmas holi- ' days, as many-seem anxious to do, has' 1 been made by tho Prime Minister (tho 1 Bight Hon. W. F. Massey). • ; on the subject last night, 1 Mri Massey made tho following state--1 nient to a Dominion reporter:—l have lear.nt with some surprise that a num- ' ber of our recruits who intended going . into .camp next week are withdrawing' ; thoir names, with tho object of having .. tho- holidays free, .and of again giving. . in their names afterwards. I havo also been. informed that' recruiting had so improved during the last few days that had it not been for this unforeseen contingency the Eleventh Reinforcements would have beon up'to full strength nt the dtie date. I can quite understand the desire of our boys, to be with their > friends And relatives during the festive season, l'have.no fault to find with . tho'sentiments :by which many of them '! • 'are-acti^ted,-but in view of the' serious- I uess of I'titto position, and of the_ neces- I sity for 'till' the'men in the Reinforce-" ments:.; : starting their training at the same in order that the great reputation whioh New Zealand soldiers have ■ acq'.iired may be kept up, may I, under (iuch circumstances, appeal to registered; or even intending recruits, .to adhere to their original intention to go into camp before the holidays,' and so keep tho training system working as it hasiwQrked for many months past, smoothly ai]id satisfactorily. I know that what I' am asking for may be considered' a sacrifice,' but I am confident . that the loyalty and enthusiasm of young Now Zealanders will bo. equal to the emergency which has arisen. I ask' our. boys to: remember their comrades who are; celebrating, tho holiday season in the fighting line, where, along with other bravo men and trained soldiers, they are doing their duty to' Empire, country, and fellow-citizens., I ask them to remember , how thorough training has enabled our soldiers to'distinguish themselves, and to do, credit to the' land to which they belong. If they' remember these facts, and' act accordingly—if they give up the fleeting pleasures of a, few, days for the more' lasting pleasure of having_. done' the right thing at the right time, I'am quite sure that in after life they will always look - back with satisfaction to the-Christmas holidays of 1915 spent by them.. in the. Trentham training camp.-, •