MILITARY SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 16225, 21 September 1916, Page 2

MILITARY SERVICE

APPLICATIONS POE ENROLMENT. [Special to the ‘ Star.’] WELLINGTON, September 21. Some mombera of tne Expeditionary Force Reserve are expressing anxiety on account of the failure to receive from the Government Statistician cards of acknowledgment in reply., applications for certificates of enrolment. They ask if they ought to repeat their applications Jest they should, become liable to penalties under the Military Service Act for not securing evidence of enrolment. (-Referring to*' this' point, the Government Statistician told par correspondent that his staff had sent out cards m connection with all forme received up to Saturday. Tim total number of cards sent out had been about 146.000. but some hundreds of these had been returned to him through • the post ■office owing'to failure to deliver, and further efforts had to be made to reach the men concerned. The addresses given by the men'themselves had been insufficientin some cases. Other men had failed to notify changes of address, or had placed Illegible signatures or. their forms. Mr i Fraser added that the men who had filled j , up and'despatched their forms within the proscribed period and had not vet re- 1 ceiyed cards of acknowledgment had better! wait until the end of the present week ' . , before preweeding further in the matter ! If they did not cards then thev 1 should notify him of the fact, giving. their! full names undu'dtlreecos. It'* ■ originally on the bads of the National i Register tliat about 200.000 men "would be i K>me members of the Expeditionary j Reserve when it was proclaimed. -There* should be that many men of military ago ■ m New Zealand when allowance was ‘made I for the withdrawal of those who. have al- 1 ready entered the training campk . The number of applications for certificates of enrolment received by iho Government btaUsfcmn is under 150,000, so there is a substantial margin of men to,bo ac- . counted for. The autnorities are disposed to believe from the evidence available that 'T T T„ m i a . n J' of these men are enrolled on the National Register, but have failed to apply, ter their certificates of enrolment, .the idea is persisted in in the minds of some men that if they had sent in National Registration forms in 1915 thev need not trouole about enrolment in the "Exnoditaonary Force Reserve, and that the officials would be sure to attend to the matter Their neglect to follow the directions given diem by applying for certificates of enrolment involves much extra,work for the Government Statistician’s staff. The disInbution of certificates of enrolment is not hfcely to he completed' before the end of October. Reservists who have senfin their applications on the forms provided lor the purpose will receive first attention. Then the officials engaged in this work will have to check the names in order to discover the men whose names appear in the Nabional Register but who have not applied for certificates. The addresses of these • nen verified before arrangement* ;an he completed for their distribution of fiie certificates. Finally the authorities vili s©t about the task of finding any men aho may have evaded registration altogether. -