THE PERSONAL CANVASS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17096, 19 February 1916, Page 8

THE PERSONAL CANVASS.

This morning we publish a lengthy statement by the Recruiting Board- — Mr Massey, Sir Joseph Ward and Mr Allen. The article has been written, tor the purpose of explaining the necessity for a personal canvass by members ot local committees formed as part of tue new recruiting scheme. We are afraid that the article is less instructive than interesting, and that where it is instructive there are grounds for legitimate criticism. According to our understanding of the case, the idoa "'as that local committees, principally composed of members of local bodies, members of Parliament and other representative citizens, should engage in an enterprising campaign of moral suasion, with the express purpose and determination of thoroughly exploiting the voluntary system of recruiting. In that scheme the personal canvass had h proper .and important, place, and the alphabetical lists of names compiled from the National Register would, of course, be found very useful. A scheme of that- sort, efficiently organised, l ad large possibilities. Tt would enable citizens, acting on behalf of the Government. to utilise their local knowledge and influence for the good of the cause. It would, we feel convinced, assist recruiting. Tt would help to counteract the ill effects of the official opposition to local camps and the inertia, which appears to he inseparable from officialdom—the lack of enterprise and imagination which finds a depressing illustration, .for instance, in the obscure locality selected for. the Christchurch recruiting office. We had hoped that where the Defence Department has failed committees of citizens might succeed, by getting right- among the people, representing the salient facts of the situation, and emphasising upon eligible?, as man to mail, the urgency and righteousness of the rail to duty. Fairness demands the admission that some such coiisiderations were—and are

-—at the back of the mind of tho Recruiting Board, the members ot which are unquestionably inspired by the highest motives. But we read the explanation of the personal canvass and look in vain for an exhortation to use moral suasion. From the article supplied io us a disquieting conclusion is difficult to avoid. The securing ot volunteers for the war. which should be emphatically stated as the primary purpose of the canvass, is scarcely given a remote reference, and is, a all events, subordinated to other considerations. The local committees, it appears, arc invited m engage in an exhaustive, personal canvass principally to provide tho Government with data for the fairer allotment of quotas, to verify and amplify flip National Register, to supply information that will assist the authorities, if compulsion should come, to enforce if equitably. The document, in our opinion, is cold and calculating when it- should he inspiring. It asks members of local committees to become detectives, rather than crusaders. A perusal of the board’s statement leaves us depressed and disappointed, because the vital question of the moment, the desire to make, the voluntary method suffice and succeed, is pushed into the background. M c very much dislike the task of offering this criticism. It would he much more agreeable, if it were possible, to give the Recruiting Board s explanation hearty approval and endorsement. But we think it quite necessary to say that machinery for bringing conscription into operation ought not to he invented yet. at all events publicly, and that, the work of the local committees should be concentrated upon persuading men to volunteer for tho highest duty of citizenship.