CALL TO ARMS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 123, 26 May 1915, Page 8

CALL TO ARMS

CASE OF THE MARRIED MEN THE MINISTER EXPLAINS The Hon. James Allen (Minister for Defence) was seen by a Post reporter in regard to what has already been said about the necessity there may be for married men to enlist for the front. The Minister replied that there seemed to be some misapprehension as to what he had eaid previously. "I want, first of all," said Mr. Allen, " the unmarried men ; and if there is any unmarried man who is eligible, and who has not volunteered to go, I think he is answerable to the community generally, and to the locality in which he lives. This applies equally to rich and poor, and even then I don't know whether we shall fill all the needs. After that the call comes to the married men between the ages of 20 and 40 years, but that call must come to a man personally; I cannot decide the duty of any married man in this respect. Ido not know his circumstances or how he is placed in his domestic or other responsibilities. It is for each man to decide — whether his country's call to fight his country's battle is sufficiently important in his eyes to justify him in going, or whether there is an even greater duty call to remain at home and look after his wife and children. I say, again, that I cannot decide such a matter, nor will I attempt to do so." Questioned as to whether any special provision in tho way of increased pay or separation allowance would be made for married riien enlisting, Mr. Allen replied that all he conld say was that provision was made, under tho law, for a soldier's wife and children, and for himself, if it were required. " I don't say that it is adequate, and I am ,going to ask Parliament to improve it, in regard to the widows and the dependents of men who may fall." At present, continued the Minister, there was no "separation allowance" made either in New Zealand or Australia, as at Home. We paid a, higher daily sum to the soldiers than was the case anywhere else, and so far neither Australia nor New Zealand has made "separation" provision, or thought it necessary. What had been done was that half the pay of the private and one shilling of his deferred pay Was kept for that purpose. The Defence authorities had invitee! each private to allot as much as he could for the support of his wife and family, or his dependents, as the case may be, and the Minister was informed that there was power, if the money was not allotted, to ÜBe half of the deferred pay for the support of a private's wife and children in necessitous cases, and if such necessitous cases were proved to the Minister to exist at any time he would not hesitate to act in any such situation. The reason why the half-pay and Is deferred-pay was retained, was to make, as he had said, in the first place provision for the dependents of the soldier, and secondly, if there were no call from dependents, to provide a nest-egg for the soldier when he came back, and also to discourage him from using all his pay on things that, were not needful to him. In Britain, by law, they compelled a soldier to allot his half pay to his wife and children. New Zealand had made provision largely to carry this out. 50 MORE MEN ENLIST Thirty-four additional men registered at No. 5 Group Office, Buckle-street, ypsterday for service with the New Zea* land Expeditionary Force, making 51 for thr> day., This morning another 15 men enlisted. ' Those who registered yesterday afternoon were : — Kenneth J. Tait, Civil servant John Osbqrn, storeman Lincoln R. Roberts, clerk Rob,ert Albert Corney, bootmaker Richard L. Hunter, bootmaker Maxwell Alexander King, seaman Robert B. Melven, fireman James 0. H. Sepper Frederick William M'Comish, printer John Denham, fireman Cyril Henry Clapshaw, window- dresser Percy G. Paget, salesman John Morris, compositor George Clark, driver Jonathan Beckett, painter James T. O'Gorman', farm hand Norman L. Ingren, City ' Wm. F. Gledhill, gas-fitfer. Thos. S. M'Elhone. nig^t, porEer Hugh Campbell Sim, clerk Chas. Jones, cook Herbert' Nelson, fireman Walter Ernest Hall, chemist Wm. Moreland, labourer Adrian John Mason, clerk Wilfred Ernest Long, radio-telegraphist ■ Fredk. M. Martin, solicitor Chas. M. Bevan-Brown, schoolmaster James Taylor, shoeing-smith Christopher Hansen, driver Chas. Moody, driver Chas. M. Gabrielsen, seaman Geo. Fredk. Lee, plumber Wm. Fraser, steward The sixteen recruits who enlisted this morning are as under :—: — James Robert Sewell, ropemaker Reginald Price, fellmonger Hubert Kenneth Johnston, Civil servant Magnus Badger, auctioneer John Hislop Dixon, typewriter mechanic Rodney .Pearce-Clarke, bank clerk Ernest Bollier, butcher David O'Hara, seaman Robert Wigmore, labourer James Tweeddall Crawford, clerk William John Hastings', seaman Gilbert Borland Heley, clerk Reginald Reed Hornblow, reporter Ernest Burr, grocer James .M'Hardie, storeman Henry Albert Ferrel, Gas Company employee