THE FIRST DIVISION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3106, 9 June 1917, Page 8

THE FIRST DIVISION

J'itOCESS OF EXHAUSTION,

The number of men remaining in tha First Division of the Expeditionary Force I'escrvo atter the completion of tho recent ballot is reported by the Government statistician to be M,ti9.>. Tho men are distributed unevenly over the Dominion. Group 1 (Auckland City and Sul>urbs) has Wit of them. Group 5 (Wellington City and Suburbs) has 3108, Group !l (Chrislchurch City and Suburbs) has 1»88, and Group 13 (Dunedin City and Suburbs) has 2075. Tho numbers in the otli-jr districts range frorii IKJS in Group M (Southland) to 409 in Group 10 (South Olago). • The North Island has 13,901) of the remaining First Division reservists, and tho South Island 11,702.

The unequal distribution of tho men does not mean that the roll of the First Division will be exhausted earlier in some' districts than in others. Tho quotas for successive drafts are assessed upon the numbers of First Division men in the different districts. Thus Auckland will continuo to havo a very largo quota, and .some of tho southern districts will have comparatively small ones. 'The process of exhaustion, will he completed in all tho districts at tho same time, and tho Second Division men all over the country will start level as far as the ballots i-.re concerned, subject lo the classification eventually adopted.

No date has been announced yet for the re-cxaminalion of the Cl.and C 2 men a! tho First Division, and for tbo rcc<rusidcration by the Military Service Boards of the First Division, appeals that havo been adjourned sino die. The date when-the first call will bo made upon the Second Division men will depend upon tho progress of this work. Tho revision of tho rejected and suspended men of the First Division is expected to produce several thousand recruits. But tho work necessarily mil bo slow, and the necessity for regular monthly drafts of recruits is bound to produce some overlapping. The sooner the re-examin-ations and re-hearings are commenced tho less will be the amount of overlapping of the tail of the First Division, by the head of tho Second Division.