RECRUITING CAMPAIGN

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17100, 24 February 1916, Page 9

RECRUITING CAMPAIGN

PUBLIC MEETING IN CHRISTCHURCH. TO BE HELD IN THEATRE ROYAL TO-MORROW. In accordance with the request of the Recruiting Board the Mayor (Mr H. Holland) lias convened a public meeting to be held in the Theatre lloyal tomorrow night at eight o’clock in support of the new recruiting scheme. Amongst the. speakers willbe the Hon J Allen the Minister for Defence, and Mr L. M. Isitt, M.P.

MEETING AT RAXGIORA. Last evening thirty-two residents of the Raugiora borough and county, attended a public meeting in the Municipal Chambers, convened for the purpose of forming a recruiting, committee under the new recruiting sclieme. The-Mayor ;(Mr C. I,•. Jennings) presided, and said that the Borough and County Councils had decided to .cooperate in the request of the Recruiting Board to. organise, for a canvass ot eligible men. ■ . . • Mr F. Horrell, county chairman, in .moving that a committee sliould be. set up, said that the duty of such a- coniniittee should be to ascertain first how many single men were ready for scr- ; vice, leaving married men out of the question for the present. Mr E. R. Good seconded the motion, which was supported by the Hon f>. Bucldo and Messrs \Y. M’Griier and H. Boyd, the last-named, however, expressing the opinion, that in .place of committees the Recruiting Board sliould have carried out the canvass, with properly appointed military officers. •- With reference to Mr Horrell's re- | marks regarding the canvassing of liiar- ! ried men the Mayor-pointed out that ! the result of the canvass would deter- ■ mine the - question of voluntary versus j compulsory service, hence it was essen- ! tial that every man of military age | sliould be interviewed and reported J upon. j The motion was carried, and also a | motion limiting the membership of the • committee to twenty. I • A committee was then appointed as I follows:—For the borough—The Mayor, | Hort D. Buddo, Rev F. IV Fendall and Messrs H. Boyd, E. R. Good, AV. M’Gruer, D. M’Kay, T. R. Cresswell, AV. G. AVhiteside and- T. AV. Ambrose; for the county—Professor' Haslam, Rev J. R. Clark and Messrs F. Horrell, J. Marshall, H. Tallott, J. A. Al’ln tosh, J. AA\ Foster, J. Henshaw and G. Rutherford. Mr T,. Hills was appointed secretary,, and the .cbininit'tee was empowered to add' to its iiufiii ber returned, soldiers and others'.'.conf sidered specially qualified to.act as canvassers.

It was decided to hold the first meeting of tile committee on AA'ednesday evening, when the list of eHgibles supplied, containing about 700 names, would be scrutinised and arrangements made for the canvass.

Captain Atwell stated that an early start was desirable, in view' of. the calling up of the Fourteenth Reinforcements in the beginning of March, the quota for the district being seventeen • infantry and three Engineers short.

HELP FROM LOCAL BODIES. [Per Press Association-.] "WELLINGTON, February 23. So far a very satisfactory, 'response lias been made by the local ' -bodies to the.request of the Recruiting Board for their help in rendering as effective as possible the new scheme. To-day the Prime" Minister said that up to the present sixty-eight replies', had been received from local- bodies stating very cordially that they would do everything possible to co-opcrate with -the board. These replies in some cases arc from local bodies that are the centres of groups of local bodies. For .instance, the Mayor of & city like AYelliugton or <*[ a town like Te Kuiti might be soea'k-

in<r for tile surrounding smaller bodies working with them, so that these sixtyeioht replies represent at least Ninety, possibly more, local bodies. Five iiave refused assistance,, and ten are willing to help, hut think that compulsion should bo instituted by legislation. The latter, of course, are in addition to the sixty-eight replies. “I think this very satisfactory,” commented the Prime Minister. ''The sixty-eight replies include some from very large bodies.” GORE. February 23. A public meeting to discuss the Recruiting Board’s scheme decided to assist to the utmost. Members of the Borough Council, Citizens’ Defence Committee and Recruiting Committee have amalgamated to further the scheme. . DUNEDIN, February 23.

At a ,meeting of the City Council tonight, after an address on, the new recruiting scheme had been given by the Hon J. Allen, a motion was carried heartily supporting the proposals of the Government. A committee was sot up to confer with the Recruiting Committee of the Otago Patriotic Association.