CONSCRIPTION ACT

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 76, 27 September 1916, Page 3

CONSCRIPTION ACT

MILITARY SERVICE BOARDS

APPOINTMENTS ANNOUNCED

TO DEAL WITH APPEALS,

The Minister of Defence, the Hon. James Allen, announced the appointment of the Military Service Boards under the Military Service Act yesterday afternoon. The boards will deal with all appeals. , One board has been appointed for each military district as follows:—

Auckland District. Mr. Frederick James Burgess, S.M. Sir. George Elliot, Remuera, merchant. Mr. John M'Caw, Matamata, farmer. Wellington District. Mr. Daniel George Arthur Cooper, S.M. Mr. David M'Laren, Wellington. Mr. William Perry, Masterton, sheepfarmer. Canterbury District. Mr. James Sim Evans, Nelson, S.M. Mr. James Dothie Millton, Fendalton, Officer iv Charge of the Citizens' Defence Corps, at Christchurch. Mr. Edgar Channon Studholme, Waimate, sheepfarmer. Otago District. Mr. Howell Young Widdowson, S.M. Mr. Edward Kellett, Dunedin, Secretary of the Carpenters' Union. Mr. Alfred Dillon Bell, Waihcmo, sheepfarmer. In making the announcement, Mr. Allen said that in making the selection the Recruiting Board laid down for itself certain principles. One was that, if possible, Magistrates should be secured as chairmen. Another was that all the members selected, whether Magistrates or not, were to be beyond military age, and were to have no sons who might be expected to have enlisted and who had not done so. The board also laid down the principle that the men selected should be well known in their districts, and that they should be broad-minded men, without any prejudices, men who were likely to command the confidence of the public in their, judgments. Adherence to these principles made it necessary for the Recruiting Board to pass over certain gentlemen who would have been estimable members of the boards, but who did not comply with the conditions laid down. "We avoided as far as possible," he said, "the selection of gentlemen who occupied public positions, to which they had been appointed by the vote of the electors—as, for instance, members of Parliament, or the Mayors of cities or boroughs. " ' ■

"All that part of the Act these boards have to deal with has been placed under the administration of the Hon. Mr. Myers, who has been dealing with the subject of exemptions while we have been obtaining recruits under the voluntary system.

" Tho Magistrates, who will be the chairmen of the boards, have been called together, and they will consider some of the more important issues likely to arise in the work they will have to do. Probably one- of the most important things they have to consider is the securing of uniformity iv decisions. The Recruiting Board is very anxious that there shall be no possible reason for complaint that in one district the Appeal Board made it very difficult for a man to securo exemptions, while in another district the board made it comparatively easy. The members of the Recruiting Board realise that if tho Act i 3 to be well administered, and if public confidence is to be secured, exemption must be obtained in all parts of New Zealand on somewhat, similar grounds. " The Magistrates have been selected by the Minister of Justice, and in making the' other selections the Recruiting Board , has endeavoured to represent as far as possible the. feeling of the people in the district by choosing one member resident in a city or acquainted with city life, and the ether member resident in tlie country. Neman has been selected because he represents any particular section of tlie community, and all the names submitted have had due consideration, subject to the rule 3we laid down. As it turns out, there are'two of the members appointed who have been interested specially in labour matters. One is Mr. D. M'Laren, of Wellington, and the other is Mr. Kellett, secretary of the Carpenters and Joiners' Union, Dimcdin. '

"The members of the board will receive each one guinea per day while they are in session, one pound per day travelling allowance, and actual locomotion expenses."