VOLUNTARY EFFORT

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 58, 6 September 1916, Page 7

VOLUNTARY EFFORT

DOMINION'S PROUD RECORD

OVER 100,000 ENLISTMENTS

AND STILL THE MEN ENROL.

MISLEADING REPORTS

REFUTED,

...In view of the misleading statements published lately regarding the recruitment of New Zealand Reinforcements, and more particularly.,. in . view of the unjust slur cast upon New Zealand by the London Times, a Post reporter made enquiries at Defence headquarters today as to the actual position. As a result he ascertained the following facts,' which speak for themselves :—.

(1) The New Zealand Expeditionary, Force and Reinforcement drafts have "been wholly recruited .under the voluntary principle.

i 2) New Zealand, under the voluntary principle, has never at any time failed to meet her commitments in full and on due date, and never since the complications and. difficulties arising from the return and absorption of the Sampan Force has she despatched under-trained men except to meet: emergencies at the special .request of the'lmperial Government. '

(3) To meet wastage in" camp "due to sickness or rejections because of medical unfitness,',New 'Zealand lias always'called: up drafts at 5 per cent..over the'required strength: In addition, since Novemberlast, New Zealand has..1 had ,a, standing Reserve of approximately 1000 men ..in' training to meet any unexpectedl deli-, ciencies that might occur and to replace men in any .draft who, through sickness or other causes, might not have received their full course of training. ' Further,; for several months for such arms as Mounted Rifles and Artillery New' Zealand has called up drafts, ahead of corn-' mitment, so that they might receive longer training. This means that New Zealand, under the voluntary principle, has always had a considerable surplus of men in training over and above commitments.

(4) Ever since the establishment of the Reserve the Reinforcement drafts have received from four to five,months', training before, leaving New Zealand. They havo been trained up to a, definite standard, which has been greatly improved. This has been specially evidenced ,in the musketry results, which furnish a definite guide to go upon, and there is good reason for saying that the other branches of training have been similarly improved. „'.,; ".'"" '.

(5) Iv some cases drafts , called .up at 105 per cent., strength have mobilised short, and after the lapse of a week or a fortnight have been closed down short. These shortages, however, have always been made good from,. the Reserves in training in excess of commitments, and have been -made up in turn by calling up the additional number of men required with the succeeding draft. , This course has been adopted in order to avoid having men in any one draft in various stages of training, and with drafts mobilising every four ■ weelcs has been carried out without impairing efficiency. On the other hand somo drafts have mobilised in excess of the 105 per cent. levied, thus swelling the surplus alreadyexisting. An instance of this happened as late as with'- the 18th Reinforcements who went into camp in July last.

(6) New Zealand . has : invariably recruited more than sufficient men for each, successive draft. These men have been called up in due course, but through various reasons some have not responded, resulting in the -'shortages"- already re-' ferred to. This failure to respond has been .mainly, due. to, the fact that recruits on enlistment have never been required to take 'the. oath- which has only been administered, on their going into camp. In Great Britain the oath has been administered, on enlistment from the beginning thus obliging the recruit to parade to go into camp when required. New Zealand is now about to do the same, though for two years she has more than met her obligations without having any such power over the recruit once he enlisted.

(7) Whenever a draft has gone into camp New Zealand on an average has had between 4000 and 5000 fit recruits registered for succeeding drafts. This still continues.

(8) No appeal has yet been made for married men, though they have been accepted on enlistment.

(9) When the Military Service Act was introduced New Zealand had not fallen behind in meeting her obligations; recruiting was still satisfactory and has continued so ever since. Tlie Act was introduced and passed solely as a guarantee that our Force would be maintained at full strength if at any time the voluntary system proved insufficient for that .purpose., ,_ , „ . , ...'.;

(10) "WhaCNew Zealand has done and has shown 'that she is prepared to .do voluntarily may;be-gauged from-the'fol-lowing facts:—When the National Register was taken in November, 1918, no less than 112,778 men of military age notified their willingness to become members, of the' Expeditionary Force if .required. Thirty-nine thousand men hay : ing already, gone into camp before the National ROgister was taken,* this'brought the total number of men prepared to go voluntarily if required to no less than 151,7,78. This has been made good to thq extent that up to tlie middle of June,' 1916, there had been 90,324 enrolments in New Zealand for active service ; since then there have been more than 10,000 additional enrolments,. making a grand total of over 100,000. in' New Zealand for active service to date. Yet notwithstanding that total voluntary recruiting still continues ' satisfactory.: So far New Zealand has sent 65,000 men' into cariip without requiring.. to impose any binding obligation on them before hand. Further, New Zealand has nowmore than sufficient men in camp to meet her obligations in full under the voluntary system to the end of 'the present year, and has- some 5000 fit volunteers available waiting to fill up succeeding drafts that have riot'yet been called up. '■ '