RECRUITING FACTS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2741, 8 April 1916, Page 6

RECRUITING FACTS

;' THE CITY'S RECORD ' [ THE PERSONAL CANVASS ; DISCUSSED f r . ... . ... I j ; CONSCRIPTION FAVOURED ! The, executive of the Wellington..Military District',. No. 5 Group, Town Hall Recruiting Committee met last night, j'lhe Mayor ;(Mr. J. P. Luke) presided, .iuid. thero were also present: Dr. A. Iv. Newman, M.P., Captain Barclay, iMessis. M. \V. Welch, 0. C. Crump, W. :Maddison, James Macintosh, B. U. H. Burn, R. F. Von Haast, R. A. Wright-, iM.P.-,- A. Veitch, M. F. Luckie, A. It. Stkinson, and W H FiokL M.P. \ I -Tho Mayor, in opening, the'meeting, paid a .tribute to the efforts of Captain [Barclay, in connection- with the recruiting; campaign, l : and said that full credit 'had, not . been givon to the Town' Hall •Recruiting Office for the-number of tlnen enrolled -there. Over" 2000 men isiad w enlisted",at" tli9, office,, and. a: very largo majority had been : passed as fit.' f|ni: referring .. to - the--work 'of.■ 'Dr. !JDe Lautour as medical', examiner, the i'Mayor pointed out that that gentleman •had prepared some valuable! statistics fof. 'tnO': health, of -the • men; passing. : ,through'"h;s' hands. A glauco at these "of." all the men ■'. passing • (through - tho .Town Hall, Office; only>two, for',:di:unkenn;ess ;and;; itwoiforTcncroalvdisease.; Jtayor- •• itureSKThe.V.m® ' I CVptiin''B.arcla'y , s i'eport.to.'discuss;'and' i iliaa'ialso itcr'ebiisider' 'the;,futnre;l.cam- ' ipaigni';:.liiv ; !erated-,itl).at: ]io- -'\vas iri -favour of'com'pulsiori. ! ' 9 >. ' ' . y .i':- i." Recent, Criticism. . f;;Caj^m:i'Barclay, % '.>vhd/. ; K ■ report;- : ipointed' out-thai as ;yet: they- \rare-; with;; ; 'out;.a:delinito'-.rulihg-oiLvtßielsight- •' (Men, ? Town Hall'had'b'een ,passed.':'els.owhere. ; toiiestion -of •■'sight'- -was -wanted.'' Z Then[Something more, definite' was wanted in pensions, and separation/allowance..;^''Meii were continually asking if thb-promises were any-good and they 'could not te'giveh a,satisfactory, answer. [Coming to. 1 ' the -future* recruiting cam;,paigh,.- Captain Barclay 'said; that ■' the Iwork of.'the- canvass was for the purpose !of obtaining-a check upon' tho.Najtionaljße^ister.. It .was to check a'sysjtem :ofi published; figures, ; which for the present stood in very grave doubt as ito-its accuracy. .The task of : canvassing' [would have', to.'be; grappled withthor-. : [oughly.:; if .at; all. It would need 260 jcanv'assers to cover the City in ten days, ; if a proper- division were made, if : payment were to be made the. ex- . foerise would .be. a; minimum-, of. £1800., upon recent-' ufj,vspa,j&sr oriti-, cism,;Captain Barclay/read an extract •from.'a,' local,' journal'- rebuking tho |Toiyn' : Hall' Committee for loading up ithe •: already overstocked branches of (the military ' service "and' for not doing itsOproper share in securing infantry for:'tho, 15th Reinforcements.- The':'aeHmalfigures were that 154 men had, gistered for the 15th. Of this number,, jtweiity . were for the: Mounteds, seven Jor.'tho Engineers, four,, for tho Veterinary?. branch, ' seven for tlie Artillery [(chosen'- for-' special aptitude),; two for tA.S.C., two dental recruits, two . sigiriallers, and one for the ambulance. .This made, a total of; forty-five.'for' Bu- ; ;Idlus branches.., leaving 109 for the infantry. Tho. Wellington Infantry quota [required .for., the 15th was 139, of which number 64 had previously been;, pro- , ridded. -Therefore some 75 men worei ineeded to make up the 139. i To supply; this 75, no fewer than . 109 had registered at the Town Hall. Only 18; jhad been rejected as unfit, leaving 91 ,to .make up the required number of 75.: /Tliese were- facts. . -. v Y - Where Are the Hen? " , Now: he camo to another important rpart iof the business.- Of '135 notices [sent out to' the men who had ■ registerand : passed as'fit; sixty "had never Responded. ; He - asked whose' business jit was to ; ; fbjd these men P. , He did, not '(propose- to 'answer the ' but ithey had /the simple fact that the Town HaU"had 'done its work. : The. objectionable „ features. ofthe : , newspaper, criticisms were that they .appeared to .nave.- tho stamp of someone in: office, and ; that - they were not in accordance (With fact.- Members of the Town Hall Committee had' done - their best,' 'and 'had. given; six-: months of tlieir' timo With the 'results he had indicated, and iyot. it was given out to the public that they-were only a, parcel of amiable .old gentlemen, passing a pleasant time. ;ilo was olio of' tlioso amiable old gehtle.meii, and at 74 ho still retained some shred of self-respect,-which had led him: to tender his resignation, as from 'Monday next. . i - Mr. I/uckio attributed , the failure of ;the recruiting system to. mismanage- ,™ on t,. ori the part of the Defence authorities. 'It had been said that the recruiting had been a failure in . >i elhngton, but in the figures given by.;Captam Barclay they had a strik;ing#answer to that.'- -Rersonally-ha wastlidAcahvass',; thntme Jiecessaiy rfe'sult 'couldl' •be rachieved by . more up-.to-date meth;ods,, b<nng;-:ii'sed .-.by., the>-Defehcei .partment. Local camps should be esjtablished. to take the men as soon as itney,; offered. . , .. , . .■ ; Wo Shortage in Wellington. i Dr. Newman declared that the reicruiting meetings had resulted in a rally, as shown by tho imiroved figures, for, ,Mar,ch;.lt.had been W" statesmen "■ and - announced ;through tho Press that AVellingtou had done very badly, but what were' the facts? In the beginning, the Sanioan .lorco Jiad largely been recruited in Wellington. Since then AVellingtou I'had never had a shortage of fit men, ,and was not short now, but probably .Buwhers of m'en, who had not been taken into camp on enlistment, liad I £0116 into til© country, «iiid - lificl jisvor i received the notices calling them up In i .connection with the paper reports that the, Wellington military district was 600 ;short of its last quota, ;he'pointed * on fed ;that the district was a verv largo one covering Taranaki, Poverty Bay' iHawke's Bay,-the Wairarapa, and a largo part_ of the :West' Coast. All , those districts had done well, and in ;sonie cases had returned more than tlio jquota. • Olio group had frequently jmada up shortages,' and had; In.Tfact: done more than any other district in ■I\ew Zealand. Ho favoured more recruiting meetings, especially open-air meetings, by which they could reach men who could never ho reached anywhere else. So many men had gone from this district that the task was becoming harder and harder, and this ;had to be realised. He agreed with ;the estimate of about 2GO- men to can- ; - ivass the City, and regretted that the ■prevailing idea at certain recruiting he had attended seemed to he to get someone else to do the work of the personal canvass. : Pensions and Separation Allowance., ' Mr. Von Haast expressed the opinion the meeting should decide if the ; personal canvass was to be taken up or j not. If tho scheme was not practicable [siirfclv it was the correct thing to.tell ; the' Government so, and not to, waste i further time., It seemed to him that ; ;ho work was not the kind to be undertaken by amateurs, hut by people who lad some experience in taking a census. ' fe believed that the placing of pensions : ind separation on a proper :' lasis would do more to secure recruits

than all the canvassing that could be done. The War .League had prepared a oircular on the question of "Pensions by Right," and this it hoped to publish shortly.- The local camps, as suggest-' od by Mr. Luckie, were also, in the speaker's opinion, desirable. At all events, the Government should swear-in tho men as they enlisted, pay them, and so secure a hold upon them. In any case, lie did not want to shirk his share of the work, and he would pulpitis name down for the personal canvass, if it were decided iipon. Mr. B. G. H. Bnrn, while expressing his willingness to work in connection with the personal canvass, agreed with much that had been said by Mr. Yon Haast and _ other speakers. His personal opinion was that conscription was the only solution of the problem. " Work: (or Returned Soldiers. Mr. Wright remarked that it was dear that .different conditions prevailed in. different'"localities. To reach iho eligible meii at their liomea in the City, tho canvassing would have to be done in. the evening, and probably during the tea hour; • ; It did not appear to him that 200. men could do the whole of the work. A better canvass could be made by going, to the men at their work. His suggestion jvas that men should be specially engaged—for .preference returned soldiers, who had done their "bit." These soldiers could visit eligible'men at their work, and would be well -received, for nothing could be isaid against'them. If the canvassing was to be done by the committee, however, he would be prepared to do . his share of the work. Ho agreed with other speakers that when men enlisted they should be taken hold of and held. :T Mr. TVelch characterised the whole of 'the recruiting as a farce, and declared -that/ conscription was tho only proper Jinethod of dealing with the situation. He was not in favour of the personal canvass as he considered that members :of local bodic-s had not the time to devote, to it., The Mayor *aid it was up to the people of Wellington to sacrifice a little, of,: their time and money to test the Vscheme and 'see if ■ there was anything in it or not. . He-had said he was in ■favour of compulsion, hut, until Parlia--niont could meet, all should realise %their responsibilities in the matter and /do what they oould. for' the next- two Reinforcement drafts'! He moved a vote of thanks to Captain Barclay for his addresses and T.eport, and confidence in his work. The" Mayor declared that there was 110 intention of accepting his resignation.. ' Mr. Von Haast seconded tho motion, and in doing so paid a high tribute to the work done by Captain Barclay. In the course of a brief Teply, Captain Barclay 6aid he had undertaken the work as a duty, and was anxious, to do .his best. H9 would be willing to continue his efforts so long-as they met with approval/ i 1 ■ The motion of thanks and confidence (vas carried.' After some further discussion, it was resolved, on the motion of the Mayor, ■that all members of the committee should attend the public meeting called for Monday night, and that Captain Barclay, Dr. Newman, Mr. Von Haast, Councillors Atkinson and Veitch, and the merer,, should be a committee to draw up' the programme and' arrange the work of the meeting.