BALLOTED MEN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 208, 30 May 1941, Page 8

BALLOTED MEN

Their Obligations And

Categories

AIM TO UTILIZE ALL Failure to qualify for the grade I standard which makes a ballotted man tit for overseas service does not mean that no obligation rests on him to do some military or other duty of wartime importance. Every endeavour is being made by the Army authorities to see that each man called up, unless he is right in the lowest category of fitness, does some job. Those grade 1 men between 20 and 40 years of age are definitely fit for overseas and are not posted to the Territorial Force unless they have been exempted from overseas service by an armed forces appeal board. In cases of exemptions the board determines what service a man should do. Should it happen that a grade 1 man is also unavailable for territorial duty by reason of an essential occupation that fully occupies his time, the boards endeavour to see that at the least he does duty with an E.P.S., Emergency Fire Service, or Home Guard unit. The grade II men are those generally tit for home service, but some grade II men are lit for jobs in the Expeditionary Force. A grade II man could, for instance, if he had the requisite technical or trade qualifications, be utilized in ordnance workshops overseas ; others could do clerical work at a base. Grade II doctors can be utilized for base hospitals work. All this depends entirely on the nature of the defect that removes them from the grade I standard to grade 11. All grade 11 men, unless specially exempted, must serve in the Territorial Force, exceptions being those who are given full-time work in military offices or Expeditionary Force camps in New Zealand. They are required for such work for the duration of the war and their employment can release for overseas service grade 1 men of the New Zealand Temporary Staff. Grade 111 Is a lower standard still, but men in it can generally be regarded as fit for clerical or other light dutieswithin New Zealand. Their employment thus also releases men of a higher standard of fitness for overseas service. Grade 111 men can be absorbed into the New Zealand Temporary Staff at home defence rates of pay.

Under grade IV come men permanently unfit for any military service. The calling up of a man in the ballot, whatever his physical standard, renders him liable for some form of service, for which he can be retained for the duration of the war. While the grade II men are generally posted to the Territorial Force, which means an initial three months’ intensive training with parades at least fortnightly to follow, there are men selected from this category to do full-time service on coastal defence stations. Men with the requisite trades qualifications can also be posted to ordnance depots or quartermasters’ stores. The case of every man called up for overseas service and classed below 7 grade I is investigated by a postings committee with a view to recommending what he can be utilized for. Men who have been medically boarded and certified unfit for active duty overseas following a breakdown in health during mobilization camp training also come within the purview of these committees, which recommend suitable alternative service. Men who do not reach grade 1 on the first examination but who are considered likely to do so after remedial treatment are given such treatment at the expense of the State. The object of the system outlined is to utilize every man called up for a some form or other of national service. As far as the Territorial Force is concerned the ultimate result will be that this will consist of grade II men, plus any grade I men exempted from overseas service with a condition that thev be posted to the Territorial Force, and those from 18 to 21 or from 41 to 45 years of age.