CLOSING THE ROLLS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2879, 18 September 1916, Page 6

CLOSING THE ROLLS

EXPEDITIONARY FORCE RESERVE PERIOD FOR ENROLMENT EXPIRES The period allowed for the enrolment of tho mcmucrs of tiie Expeditionary Force Reserve expired on Saturday night, and the Government Statistician and his officers will bo busy this week dealing with tho accumulations of forms and preparing tho certificates of enrolment. Many thousands of the cards acknowledging receipt of tho applications for certificates have been sent out already, but.some days will bo required to overtake this work, and the alio of tho certificales will coma later, wine men who have sent in their forms but have not yet received any acknowledgment aro writing to tho Government Statistician on tho subject or sending in duplicate forms. It will save trouble if they wait a few days in order to allow timo for (he posting of all tho acknowledgment cards. How many of tho members of the Reserve have-complied with the obligations placed upon them bv ,tho Military Service Act is not yet known, but it is evident already that the margin of defaulters is not going to be large.The first task of the officials will be to deal with all tho forms already received, and send out tho certificates of enrolment to the men who havo qualified to rcceivo them. Tho great majority of tho men of military ago throughout the country ought to receive their certificates by the end of the present month. Then the roll of- the Reserve will bo checked in comparison with tho National Register, to ascertain what men aro not accounted for, and finally steps will bo taken to discover the remaining individuals who havo not placed their names either on the register or the roll. Tho number of these probably will not be largo, and their chance of escaping tho attention of the authorities, in any case, will bo small. Every 'will havo an interest in seeing that his neighbour is not shirking the duty of enrolment. Tho machinery for coriipulsory enlistment is _ not expected to be ready for operation before tho end of Ootober, as far as the ordinary classos of the Reserve are concerned. The procedure to be adopted then has heen explained already by tho Recruiting Board. Each district will have a quota of recruits assigned to it, tho basis of tho quota being the number of members of the First Division (unmarried men, widowers without dependants, and men married since May, 1915) shown by the roll to bo within its boundaries. This quota must be provided monthly. If there is a shortage of volunteers, the deficiency will be covered by tho compulsory enlistment of men from the First Division, the selection being mado by ballot. Thus a district which continues to provide a full quota of volunteers will escape conscription; a district which fails will feel tho operation of the Act quickly. Tho adjustment of the district quotas on the basis of ths Reservists' roll probably will involve some important changes from the present quotas, which are based upon tho number of men of military age in each district as shown by the Rational Register last year.. Some parts of tho country will be required to find increased numbers' of men and others will havo their contributions reduced, according to tho variations in tho proportions of members of the First Division still available for service.. There is no doubt that the contributions of tho various districts up to the present timo have been unoven, and unofficial figures suggest that there are certain areas where unmarried men havo been decided laggardly in their reply to the call of duty. The new quotas will havo an additional interest, as disclosing whether or not some districts that have had particular difficulty about completing their drafts are' really short of eligible men.