MISSING DEFAULTERS

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 68, 18 September 1917, Page 6

MISSING DEFAULTERS

The return ■ presented to Parliament last night regarding the disposal of the men drawn in the ballot is not likely to enhance the Defence Department's reputation for energy. There has been an uneaay feeling among the general public for so&e time past that the Department has been by ho means as enei'getic as it should have been in rounding up defaulters, and judging by the return now furnished this uneasiness appears to have been well founded. The return shows that of 49,588 men drawn in the first nine ballots the authorities have failed to locate no fewer than 3121, while 516 have failed to concentrate when ordered, and have been posted as deserters. This gives a, grand total of 3637 defaulters, or, after eliminating the Unfit and the dead, sufficient for one complete Reinforcement dtaffc! This is very far from being satisfactory, and justifies the public and members of .Parliament in seeking the f nllesl information as to the methods that haVe been pursued in tracing these men. We think we are not far out in saying that too much reliance has been placed on overworked postmeft and telegraph boys in finding these men, while the Defence Department itself has done little or no personal hunting on its own acconnt. If thfe Department has done anything in the latter direction at all it has only been recently and on a very minor scale. Evidence of this is furnished in the fact that only on one occasion during the many months the Mih% tary Service Act has been in operation have the authorities put Section 44 into force by requiring ftien to produce their enrolment cards. It is noteworthy also that on that isolated occasion the only places raided were a few: hotel bars, theatres, and racecourses. From the facts, as we know them, it is plain that there is a spirit of inertia-somewhere, and that the positibn is hot likely to be remedied until the cause is removed; With the rapid approach of 1 the calling up of the Second Division* the public has every right to, demand that the most vigorous action be taken, and With a promptitude which betokens sincerity. It is useless for the Minister to ask members of Parliament and the public to help if the authorities themselves ire not applying the powers conferred upon them. /