MILITARY SERVICE BILL

Nelson Evening Mail, 5 August 1916, Page 3

MILITARY SERVICE BILL

NEW RECRUITING DISTRICTS

BOUNDARIES FIXED

PREPARING FOR COMPULSION

The Right Hon. W* F. Massey, as chairman of the Recruiting Board, telegraphs as follows: The Military Service Act empowers the Minister of Defence to divide New Zealand into recruiting districts, and it directs the Government Statistician so soon as these districts have been constituted to prepare district registers of the First and Second 1 Divisions of the Reserve, and to enter on each district register the names of the men of military age belonging to the respective divisions who are resident in that district at the date of its constitution, or at any later date at which they become memibers of the Reserve. This is the first stage in making ready for compulsory seryicc*. Pursuant t-o this authority the Dominion has now been divided into recruiting districts, and the work of r>repa/ring registers of the men in the First Division of the Reserve for each of the districts will be at once commenced. It has been further decided that these new districts will henceforth be the group districts for all Territorial training and departmental purposes under the Defence Act. This decision means, of course, an increase of three in the present number of groups, with. a. corresponding increase in the number of group commanders and staffs. In constituting the new districts it was not deemed desirable to adhere to the present group boundaries, as these are moro or less arbitrary and in several instances are not easily ascertainable, and I it is necessary that every man who is i of military ace and therefore liable for , ='*rvico should know clearly and definitely the recruitinjr district to which he belongs, and for which he may be balloted. It is also essential to have a. well defined boundary to each district, to enable the Government Statistician to place with certainty and exactitude eacn reservist in the district register to which he belongs. For this reason '•ounty boundaries have been in every instance selected as the boundaries of ' the new croup recruiting districts, in the constitution of which care has been taken to preserve as far as practicable ■r-ommunitv of interest. Each group re- ' cruiting- district under the Act therefore will comprise so marry counties, and of course all boroughs, town and road districts situated within those counties. The Post and Telegraph Guide shows the county in which each post office in the Dominion is situated, and' thus provides every man of military age with an easy and ready means of ascertaining the county l and consequent ly the recruiting I district in which he resides. For the purposes of the Military Service Act 21 group recruiting districs have been constituted as follows : No. 1, Auckland. No. 2. Hauraki. No. 17, Bay of Plenty. No. 3, North of Auckland. No. 4, Waikato. No. 5, Wellington. No. 6 Manawatu. No. 7, Hawke's Bay. No. 18, Wairarapa. No. 10, Poverty Bay. No. 8, Tarana-ki. No. 20, Wanganui. No. 9, Christchurch. No. 10, South Canterbury. No. 11, North Canterbury. No. 21, West Coast, comprising Westland, Grey, Inangaliua, Buller, and Murchison Counties, with headquarters at Greymouth. No. 12, Nelson, comprising Collingwood, Takaka. Waimea, Sounds, Marlborough, Awatere, and Kaikoura Counties, with headquarters at Nelson. No. 13, Dimed'in. No. 14, Southland. No. 15, North Otago. No. 16, Clutha. Advantage has been taken of the present opportunity to re-number the groups that have hitherto had other than ; a plaiu number. For instance, old No. 7a district, Wairarapa, now becomes No. 18, and No. 11a, West Coast, now becomes No. 18, and No. 11a, West Coast, now becomes No. 21. The other new districts have been numbered 17, 19, and 20. This method' has been followed in order to preserve the existing numbers of the groups that already had a plain number and so disturb Defence* records and files as little as .possible. Maps of the Dominion showing the county boundaries and' groups of the counties forming the several groups and recruiting districts are now being prepared, and when ready these will be distributed to each local authority for whose district a roll of men of military age was compiled under the Recruiting Board's scheme. By this means ail recruiting committees will be able to see at a glance the precise district in which they are now placed for the purposes of the Military Service Act. It is hoped that the existing local body recruiting committees in such of the new districts where no organisation of the kind already exists will take steps to form a strong central executive, or in the case of the larger group recruiting districts one or more executives, as circumstances may determine, not only for the purpose of controlling recruiting as here-

to fare, but to assist £NuI advise with respect to matters that .way arise from time to time in the administration of the Military Service Act. _ A direct appeal is being rrvide bv ie Recruiting Board to each Joca> body to take steps in conjunction its neighbours in each group recruiting distrh-t to bring such central executive or e?;et:ntives into existence In* th-UF- emphasis* ing the need for a continuance of labours which have been arduous and exacting, ths board desires to express its grate ut 1 appreciation of the valuable assistance that has been so cheerfully given over practically the whole Dominion. It is proposed in the immediate iutuie to proclaim the enrolment of the Reserve and exactly what is meant by that will be fullv explained in a further statement before the proclamation is gazetted.