MILITARY SERVICE.

North Otago Times, Volume CIV, Issue 13723, 14 November 1916, Page 8

MILITARY SERVICE.

VOLUNTARY SYSTEM SUSPENDED. i '■• .(*■— ' CALLING UP SHIRKING ; FAMILIES. ' Np-1 DUNE DIN, November 13. Though a telegram from Wellington states that the system of voluntary enlistment, has been extended till this evening, the local defence people have received no oflicial advice to this effect, mid consequently from Saturday night the compulsory service clauses will come into effect. So far as the Military Service Act is concerned a glaring anomaly lias been discovered as regards what are termed "shirking families"—section ;io. Let I hero lie, say, four sons in a family, all eligible so far as age is concerned for active service, It is possible, under Hie Act, for one of these four men. known beforehand lo be physically unlit, to enlist. He is rejected by I lie medical officers, but by virtue of the Act of the enlisting of one of the family, that family is automatically withdrawn from the "shirkers" list, -> It is very pleasing to have to record, however, that so far as Duncdin is concerned—apart from any evasion .which might be arranged under the foregoing circumstance—the number of "shirking families" is practically nil. There are about SO nion ready to go forward from Dunedin (Group 13) in the Twenty-third Reinforcements, which, are due to leave Dunedin on Thursday next. The quota required is about 150, and the shortage will be made up by ballot. The Milton group has its quota just about filled up, and further particulars arc awaited as regards the

position at JnveiTargill and Oamani. Jt is emphatically stated that the Dunedin group lias been a milch cow, as it were, for the other three groups, and more particularly Invercargill, during the past twelve months. The Dunedin group, it is claimed, has keptup a very high standard of enlistments right through, A comparison is made as between Invercargill and Dunedin to ghow that the, tatter town Jias done more than its fair share, With a population of 77,809 the. Dunedin group mw has but 5000 in the First Division—that is, specified men between the age of 21 and 4(i years, The Invercargill group, however, with a population of some 20,000 has also about 5000 men in the First Division. The discrepancy is obvious. On the basis of the respective populations, Dunedin should have over 15,000 men in the First Division, and it is a fair assumption that the men from group 13 have enlisted far more freely than those from the southern town,

The names of those eligible in the First Division arc now in Wellington. The ballot for the men required to make up the shortages in the Twentythird Reinforcements in the four groups in Otago and' Southland will take place in Wellington, The names of the men drawn in the ballot will be forwarded to the officers in the respective groups, and the men will then be enrolled,

About 00 men have voluntarily enrolled for the Twenty-fourth Reinforcements; the shortage hero will also be made up by balloting under the compulsory system. This system will lie in force till early in December, when the voluntary system will again be tried for the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth Reinforcements. Then, after an interval, the compulsory clauses will be introduced lo make up any shortages which may occur in tlm Twenty-lifth and Twenty-sixth Reinforcements. Jt should lie made clear, however, that any man

who volunteers at the present time to go with the Twenty-lifth and Twentysixth; Reinforcements docs not escape being balloted for under the compulsory clauses for the Twenty-third and Twenlv-fourth Reinforcements.

Of course, a man who is called on by the ballot has to be medically examined as to his physical fitness, lie.has alsr the privilege, if he so desires, of appearing before the Military Appeal Board, and stating his reason why lie should not be called on to serve in the

Xew Zealand army. Practically every man who has been called on under section 35 —the shirk-

ing family clause—lias answered to the call with'a gbod graeo; ' _'';'" It is said, however,'that now that the compulsory system has. actually come into existenco its effect is becoming more truly recognised, and that there is an under current of feeling in some quarters which hitherto favoured its adoption. A well-known Dunedin Labour advocate who has ventilated his opinions if "avoitr of conscription from the public platform, says that he has been much surprised during the past few d{.ys at the antagonistic he has heard regarding the Act'. He considered that there was a groat deal of misrepresentation in regard to the principles governing conscription, lie has very clear cut views on the subject, Evolution had shown him that all down the ages Nature's great law of self-preservation had demands—if life and lands were to be saved—that in a time of national crisis anything which threatened the existence of a community—a State—must be met by the combined effort of the State. Of course, if there was no desire that a Slate should live, the speediest \v\y to let it die—or be killed—was for everybody to please himself or herself what thiy did, "United we stand, divided we fall" applied just as much to a small industrial body of workers as to the whole State, Everything should be sacrificed to the State—to preserve the State, "Once I can get at those men who have not heard all the pros and cons of the position, and who are inclined to lean to the arguments of the anti-conscription-list, 1 have no difficulty in getting them on my side," said the Labour man. He considered, however, that the Government should be far more drastic in its dealings'with those people who were making money out of the war. lie utterly failed to see why the -woolgrowers, the stock-growers, the cheesemakers, and other producers should put obstacles in the way of the Government commandeering the products—except at high prices—when life itself was to be commandeered.

' 'COMPULSORY SERVICE. THE RED FED. ATTITUDE. A REFERENDUM ASKED FOR. The following letter has been forwarded to the Hon. James Allen, Act-ing-Prime Minister, by Mr Hiram Hunter, secretary of the United Federation of Labour:—

"I have the honour, by direction of the United Federation of Labour, to respectfully submit for the consideration of the Government, a request on behalf of organised Labour in New Zealand, that before the provisions of the Military Service Act are put into 'operation, a ballot should be taken for the purpose of ascertaining whether the electors are in favour of the conscription 'of the manhood of the Dominion.

"We contend that Parliament' had no inundate from the people to place a Conscription Act ujpon the 'Statute Book,'a.-: any suggestion of the enactment of conscription being proposed was pooh-poohed at the time of the last general election. ( . "Further, we hold that as Governments, both past and present, have made it compulsory for trade unionists to take a ballot of all their members before creating an industrial dispute, in reference to obtaining better wages and working' conditions from their employer.-, that it is reasonable to claim that a ballot shall be held before any steps are taken to conscript, llcsh and blood.

"If it is necessary to compel working men to take a ballot to protect employers'from'the legitimate demands of trade unionists, it is a thousand times more necessary to take a referendum of the people before any attempt is made to divorce men from all they hold dear. "We urge your Government to give our request its most serious consider.!-, tion, sincerely believing that the taking of a referendum on the subject is in the best interests of the Dominion particularly, and the Empire generally."

. OOMINO OP OONSORIPTIOIL ■.. STRENGTH OF FIRST DIVISION. The chairman of the'Rccriiiting Board (the Hon. James Allen) announces:— The Government Statistician has now certified to,the Minister of Defence that the register of the firsf. division of the reserve for eacji recruiting district has been constituted, and that the total number of reservists ill the first division is 84,986, In accordance with the spirit of the Military Service Act, whenever any doubt arose as to whether a man belonged to the reserve or not, the Government Statistician has enrolled him, Similarly, where the advice from the Defence Department of men joining the Expeditionary Force lias led to some doubt as to the identity of the man, his card has been retained in the register, but to guard against names of men who have already enlisted being published'in the Gazette, it is intended to submit each certified list of men called up by ballot to Base Records, inorder that the name of any man, who is now in France, being cancelled. The following schedule shows the number of reservists in the lirst divilion for each recruiting district:— ■ So. I—Auckland 11,015 No. 2—Hauraki 3^225

N0.3-North Auckland .. .. 2,898 N0.4-Waikato 3,066 N0.5-Wellington 8,402 No, 0-Manawatu 4,084 No.7—llawke's Day 15,050 No, 8-Taranaki ;i,025 No. 9—Chi'istchurch 6,573 No, 10—South Canterbury .. 4,345 No. 11—North Canterbury .. 2,556 Ko. 12—Nelson 2,794 No, llS—Dunedin 5,307 No. 14—Southlaiiil ........ 5,174 No. la-North Otago 2,174 No. l(i—Olutlia .. 2,021 No. 17-Day of Plenty .... 1,451! No. 18-Waiarapa 3,50S No, 19—Poverty Bay 2,761 No. 20—Waiignnui 2,943 No. 21—West Coast 3,562 Totals ' 84,986