RECRUITING WEEK

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4809, 12 July 1939, Page 5

RECRUITING WEEK

ORGANISATION IN TE KUITI. ) COMMITTEES SET UP. 51 MEN WANTED. ; Committees were set up at a defence meeting in. the Parish Hall last evening to arrange a recruiting week ' to secure 51 recruits from Te Kuiti to bring the local machine gun sections from their present strength of 49 to a total of 100. The meeting was presided over by the Mayor, Mr. H. T. Morton, and he, Staff-Captain S. F. Allen, area officer for the Waikato Regiment, and Major Mackersey were the principal speakers. At the meeting it was mentioned that at Pio Pio the previous evening there had been a wonderful response at a recruiting meeting, and 47 young men had signed up to commence training. Of these eight were from Aria, but it was hoped that the necessary 30 recruits would be forthcoming at Aria to form a separate training centre. At Te Anga 36 young men had come forward as recruits. The Mayor, Mr. H. T. Morton, said that as a soldier with four years' active service, he knew that the only thing to do was to enrol compulsorily the young manhood of the country, but it appeared as if it would only be brought about when we were actually engaged in war. Of the defence arms, the land force was of paramount importance to New. Zealand to-day, he said, illustrating how a comparatively few Turks, fully trained because their country had had conscription long before the war, had been at Gallipoli able to hold the land forces of Australia and New Zealand, Britain and France, backed by a greatly superior naval force. If Britain's Navy was to be engaged in another part of the world, of what use would the few paltry ships we could afford be to us. Japan could, and probably would, land a huge force in New Zealand within 21 days of the outbreak of hostilities. "I do not believe that if we had „ a war to-morrow we would have 10 per cent, of shirkers, but the tragedy of it is that the untrained man is useless," said the Mayor. "It is of the utmost importance that we should get moving ,in this matter, and show that Te Kuiti is ready to meet the urgent situation that has arisen."

Captain Allen stressed that, though it might be thought by many that compulsory training should be instituted, the people must make the best of the policy that was being offered to them. That policy was of voluntary training in which a man enlisted for three years' service, undertook to perform 14 days' training, opportunity being given to perform 20 days. Of the 14 days, six would be in camp and eight out-of-canip training. The soldier received 7s a day pay, plus 5s camp allowance, making the pay 12s a day in all, and also received warrants for travelling expenses for travel to camp. Small allowances were made for travelling expenses to parades. Once enrolled, a man had to attend a course of instruction at the recruits' camp, which was open continuously. Major Mackersey said that as an officer on the active list he could not, like Captain Allen, express an opin-

ion on the merits or demerits of vol-

untary training, but could join with the Mayor and Captain Allen in stressing the urgency of adopting wholeheartedly the only system of training available. Until May last there were only two regiments in the Northern Command, the Auckland Regiment and the composite battalion, composed of troops from the Hauraki, North Auckland and Waikato areas. Now the three lastmentioned were to provide full regiments, and the Waikato Regiment would comprise 35 officers and 640 other ranks. The Support Company would comprise three ' machine-gun platoons and one platoon of mortars. The mortar platoon was to be in Hamilton, and Te Kuiti was asked to recruit three machine-gun platoons, totalling 100 men. At present there were 22 men on strength, and within the last two months there had been 27 enrolments, so that another 51 men were required. Of the 49 men, only 19 were from the Borough, the others coming from Mangapehi, Waitomo, Rangitoto and other surrounding districts. With so few already in from the Borough there should with a recruiting week be no trouble in getting the necessary men. Mr. D. R.. Ingram said that all the heads of the Government Departments, concerned that so few of their staffs were joining the volunteers, had attended a meeting to discuss the question from all angles, and had appointed a committee of

three to enrol volunteers from the civil service staffs. This committee would be very pleased to work in conjunction with any recruiting week committee.

A general discussion on the organisation of a recruiting week followed, after which, on the motion of Mr. W. W. Horne, it was resolved to hold a recruiting week commencing from Monday next, and to that end to set up a Speakers' Committee and an Enrolment and Publicity Committee. The motion was seconded by Mr. D. Kennedy, and the committees were set up as follows: — Speakers Committee: Messrs. D. Kennedy, J. G. McKenzie (convener), J. J. Davison, J. R. Wilson, C. L. Cato, F. F. Rutherfurd. Enrolment and Publicity Committee: Major E. M. Mackersey (convener), Messrs. Norman Gordon, C. S. Brook, K. M. Montgomery, Joe Wilson, E. M. Innes-Jones, H. R. White, G. R. Miller, D. E. Pankhurst, J. G. McKenzie, C. M. Wright, D. R. Ingram, and Lieutenants W. W. Horne and J. T. K. Dodds, M.M., representing the Legion of Frontiersmen.

Mr. Miller stated that the R.S.A. were making an effort to enrol 30 old soldiers as a reserve that would be able to attend drill with the young men. This, he felt, was one of the best examples that could be shown the young men. He felt sure the thirty men would be available. An offer by the Legion of Frontiersmen to staff the recruiting booth was received and accepted with thanks.

The two committees stayed behind after the meeting broke up to confer with Captain Allen on the organisation of recruiting week.