LOCAL CAMPS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVI, Issue 16992, 20 October 1915, Page 8

LOCAL CAMPS.

LETTER TO THE MINISTRY. MR ALLEN'S ATTITUDE CRITICISED. CITIZENS WILL TAKE NO REFUSAL. ■ The committee of citizens who have handed themselves together to see a local recruiting camp established in Canterbury met last evening at the Citizens', Defence Corps rooms, Mr George Harper presiding, to receiv ! progress repoits. The principal mat tor under consideration was the draft of a letter prepared by a sub-commit-tee setting out the arguments in favour of a local camp, and this letter, a copy of which is published, was ap- . proved and signed by those present for transmission to the members of the National Ministry. After reading the draft of the letter, Mr. Harper said that since "the last meeting a deputation J had waited on I the Minister, who had takon a great interest in the practical work of the Citizens' Defenco Corps, of which ho v had greatly approved. He seemed to be alive to tae needs of the position, particularly in the matter of some stimulus to recruiting, such as a sendoff to troops; but without definitely statihg his attitude towards local camp; 8 he had expressed the view, which he had since repeated in Dunedin, that a local camp would not help the recruit very "much. However the Citizens' DefenceCorps should still go hammering on at , its project, and he believed that sucorss . might be attained, as several members of the Ministry were in favour of local camps. Dr Thacker, M.P., suggested that copies of the letters should bo sent to all the members of the Ministry, or else it might never bo heard of again. The Minister of Defence was quite in the hands of his experts, and! copies should be sent to the camp commandant ■and. Colonel Gibbon. At all events the Hon Dr'M'Nab, Sir Joseph Ward and Mr Myers would be glad to see the letter. The majority of members p!' Parliament, he thought, were in

favour of local camps, and would have forced tho Ministry to establish them. , That was one of the reasons why Mem- • hers had been hurried off from Wcl- • lington. It was just the proprietary interest of Wellington that kept Trentham ns the thing it was. Mr O. T. J. Alpers said that the committee might sp:nd all its energies, and exhaust the postal depart xnent in sending letters to Mr Allen, and nothing would be achieved. 'After giving an encouraging answer •to the deputation, he had. cooled off before he got to Dunedin. As a matter of fact the menibors knew beforehand that they would not g:t what they wanted from the Ministry. . The greatest injury that could be done to Mr Allen was to make a suggestion to v him, and tho wholo of the committee, if-necessary, should form a deputation on the subject. The matter was one of urgency, and unless something was dona' on those lines recruiting would remain slack. Mr i Cyrus Williams said that he had had experience of deputations that had . waited on Ministers as obstinate as Mr ■ v Allen, and they had received an evasive answer, but after a careful letter had been written setting out i - the case clearly, the favourable answer was forthcoming. He agreed with Dr Thack-r’s suggestion, but would seud the letter before the deputation. Mr Alpers said that his idea of a deputation was to push the letter home Mr George Harp-r said that he had gathered that Mr Allen was very much under the guidance of experts. “Not very much,” said Dr Thacker, “but absolutely.” Mr Harper said that in the circumstano s he liked Dr Thacker’s suggestion. ° / Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P., suggested that no offence should be given to the Minister by the despatch of copies of tho letter to tho Minister’s advis~rs, blit that all the members of the Ministry should receive copies. . The letter was approv'd, and signed. Tho letter was as follows: To the Hon James Allen, Minister of Defence. Sir,—A committee of the Citizens’ Defence Corps of Christchurch, which body has been for some months past actively assisting in recruiting for the reinforcements of the New Zealand Forces from North Canterbury, has been set up to urge upon your Government the desirability of establishing local camp 9 for the preliminary tiflining and maintenance under military disc plina of recruits who have pas ed the medical examination for fitness, subject to defects which can be remedied by dentistry and other surgery. . The committee,' which feels sure that it voices the general- opinion of the community in this matter, begs to bring under your notice the following The. present course of procedure is for a volunteer to offer him-.elf for enrolment in response to an advertisement calling for recruits. The recruit gives in his name and address and is then informed that he can be examined at a certain time, or that he must wait until ho is summoned for medical examination. He is subsequently examined, and if-approved ho is informed that he will be called upon when required; or if he is not passed, owing to defect.ve teeth or other minor defect, he is informed that he will be accepted when such defect has been remedied. At this stage the difficulty begins The man on first offering himself Las peihaps given up the work that be wus engaged on, and while waiting to have his teeth .attended to or other defect jemedied, he has to be in town or within easy reach of town.. The difficulty of employment is.thus increasI ed, and unless he has money at his . disposal this difficulty is insuperable. Arrangements, we understand, have been made by which teeth can be remedied ai the Christchurch Hospital, but moan while the man has to be supporten or to supoort himself in some way. In tho event of a more serious operation the difficulty is greater. These difficulties result in recruits offering themselves, and on realising the difficulties ahead of them before they can be accepted they go away and do not always come back again. It may bo urged that a man who is X so lukewarm as this implies is not wanted, but tho committee are of the

opinion that the position is so acute that everyone available is wanted, and that every effort should be made to avoid discouraging recruits, by throwing difficulties in the way of enrolment. It is felt that once a man has offered his services they .should be accepted v ith no delay other than that required by the rued cal examination; that if this examination is satisfactory, subject to minor remedial defects, he should l>3 immediately token in ":c oamp, draw his pay and have his defects remedied at the public exponse. While this is .going on he would be under military discipline, and would receive elementary military and physical training, would bo smartened up in mind and body, and when the time come for him to be drafted to Trenth&m ho would be ready to proceed with the fuller training that can perhaps only be given in a large central camp. , . , If, "S has been stated, the period of regular training has been reduoed, this preliminary local training would: be of inestimable value. Another highly important aspect of this que>iion should not bo .gnored, the recruit being immediately enrolled would impressed with the idea' that lus services are needed and appreciated, and this feeling being d.ssenimated throughout the couumiuity would have us effect in urging otiiers to offer their services. , The community would have a personal and direot interest in the camp, the examole of young men in training would be* always beiore the slackers and the precise stimulus which Caiiteroury, for instance, is supposed to need, would bo at once suppled. The proposal is not that the scheme of training now carried out at Trentham shou.d be affected", but that preliminary training should be done in the various district.., the men going on in due course to the central camp. We note that in your recent statement you indicated that the monthly reinforcements varied from time to time with the requirements *of the Army Council. Whatever numbers the Army Council may tmnk necessary it is now becoming evident that all our resources aro required now and in the future, and the mere widening of the qualifications for enrolment is not sufficient to remedy tho existing defects, at least, so far as the South Island is concerned* The problem of recruiting in these parts has reached a critical stage. Public spirited citizens have done and arc still doing what they can to encourage the more hesitant men to sign on, but their work is made more difficult by the apparently unnecessary ; delays in the acceptance of recruits. At present we aro not getting the numbers required of us. As tho year wears on the difficulties will be considerably aggravated. We can well understand your care to prevent the big central camps being overcrowded. We know that the instructors in those camps are working all hours to givo their charges the necessary training before they depart tor tho front, but we submit that the establishment of the local training camps asked for will not seriously add to the general work, as compU-nt instructors for preliminary training and officers to take charge of the camp and maintain military discipline are already in the districts. To show the advantage of such preliminary training we may mention that forty-seven m~n who were held up on account of deficient chest measurement have since been accepted after a course of physical drill. . , . Although tho Imperial authorities may rule that such preliminary training in local camps will not reduce the necessary period of training in ' the central camp, they will not be able to overlook the fact that a man hardened by some we-ks of local training is better than a raw recruit.

Another point not yet touched upon is the leakage of recruits to Australia, where the system of enrolment presents less difficulty and delay. We have no authentic figures to quote on this subject, but have reason to believe that tht» leakage is considerable, the latest casualty list alone showing forty-nine names of New Zealanders among the Australian forces.

While it may be urged that all roadlead to the battle front we would prefer that New Zealanders should go as New Zealanders and not as Australians.

No one can deny the beneficial effects on recruiting of the military atmosphere creat'd by a local or district camp, and vre feel that no subsidiary assistance can be negleoted. , The establishment of local camps and the taking on of men immediately on enrolment would obviously increase the expense of providing reinforcements, but we do not consider that this point should be for a moment considered. Your Government has at its command the whole resources of the Dominion, and the history of the last twelve months should show that the people of the Dominion are willing to meet all necessary expenses and are able to withstand a substantial drain on their resources. To show that the Citizens’ Dofence Corps, by means of its recruiting bureau, has been a material a distance up to the present, and will be in the future in enrolling recruits, the ■ following , figures may be of interest: — Total. Jlen enlisted from ranks of C.D.C. . 104 Men enlisted for the front through C.D.C. recruiting Bureau, May 3 to date . . . . . 1767 Men joined from Territorial ranks of C.D.C. 12 Returned soldiers for whom billets have been secured .... 4 Temporary billets secured for recruits while waiting to go to Trentham . • 882 Recruits provided with food and lodging, from one night to fourteen days, while having attended to . . • . • . .191 Odd meals provided for men . . 121 Wiv°s bplped with weekly allowance while husbands in he spit a’ undergoing minor ope-ations to enable them to pass the test .... 14 One hundred and fifty-two circulars have been to men who tew porarily unfit from minor defects, of ohom we confider 90 per o'nt would have been retained if there had been provision made for sending them into camp immediately. Of course som"' nf may still have come back te o, 0 Defence office And been enlisted direct. The signatories to the letter were George Harper, J. D. Mil l ton, S. H Seager, G. "T. Booth. J. M’Lcan, M. L. Reading, J. M. Turnbull, A. C. Maxwell, W. W. Charters, J. I Royds, H. D. Aelaud, L. M. Isitt M. Cyrus Williams, N. Woods, F. B. Jones, A. Boyle, G. H. N. Holmore. 0. T J. Alp'rs. Captain Marciel and Dr Thacker, M.P.