THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1915. RESULTS OF REGISTRATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16096, 9 December 1915, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1915. RESULTS OF REGISTRATION.

The results of the National Registration wTli certainly be to strengthen the growing feeling that conscription is by far the fairest way of satisfying military requirements in a struggle for national existence. It is quite true that the returns prove conclusively that conscription is not needed to induce the great majority of our citizens to do i their duty, for the number of those who have expressed their willingness to serve is enough to bring the total enrolment of the Expeditionary Force to 100,000 men, making due allowance for those rejected as medically "unfit." This is entirely, satisfactory as far as it goes, but why should any nation skim the cream of its manhood while leaving tens of thousands of eligible young men to watch married men with families marching off to war? We need not attach undue importance to the financial question of pension obligations nor assume that the married man has not as profound an interest in the preservation of the state as his unmarried fellowcitizen to realise that in common decency and fairness the married should not be taken in large numbers while the unmarried are left to " shirk" at home. This will be the general feeling of the public, and we may hope to see this public opinion reflected in any action taken by the Government and by Parliament.

Very little distinction can be made \ between eligible single men without dependants and medically "fit" who are willing to serve in a civil capacity and those who are not prepared to serve at all. The operations of the universal training system have taught us how few and far between are those who have true conscientious objections to military service, and it might be supposed that these could find fitting employment in ambulance work. In Auckland Province we have 8100 single men and widowers without dependants who are willing to enlist, 2406 who are willing to serve only in a civil capacity, and 2255 who are nbt willing to serve in any capacity. In other words, while 8100 of this class are ready to fight for the liberty of their country, 4661 want somebody else to do their fighting. A remarkable uniformity pervades the registration results in each of the four military districts, but Auckland, which has so nobly provided more than its share for past reinforcements, appears to be left with more than its proportionate allowance of men who will neither fight nor serve. We can all understand that many family-men of military age do not see their vay to volunteer for the front and are so situated industrially that they could not even give civil service, whatever that may be. But single men and widowers without dependants cannot be generally provided with the exceptional reasons which may justify some in holding back. Certainly there are not 4600 of this class in Auckland Province who could prove right of exemption under a fair conscription system.

Other classes which need official analysis and sub-classification are single men with dependants and married men with wife only. Many enlisted men have married before they sailed for the front, a prelude which appeals to sound common sense as to love of romance ; on the other hand, many eligible men have married since the war began for the specific purpose of evading condemnation as " shirkers." It is obviously difficult to fairly differentiate such cases, but it is not very difficult to draw distinction between " unencumbered'' married men of various ages on the lines followed in Earl Derby's scheme. Widowers with dependants are generally ordinary family men who havt, lost their wives and call for no con lent, but single men with dependants range

from the most worthy of all' men, | the son who toils to keep a home for j widowed mother and orphaned! brothers and sisters, to the young man who pays at home for his own board and lodging much less than it is worth. The former is clearly entitled to be classified with married men who have wife and other dependants, while the latter is evading the issue in unmistakable fashion. Thousands of our soldiers are allocating part of their pay to mothers and other dependants in compensation for monetary loss or upon general principles only. In Auckland Province nearly 2000 single men with dependants offer civil service only, and nearly 1500 decline to serve at all as compared to over 4500 of the same class who are ready to enlist and fight. It is consideration of what these figures may mean when they are thoroughly investigated which fosters the general conviction that some graduated form of conscription may be advisable if the war is prolonged.