MILITARY NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16968, 30 September 1918, Page 5

MILITARY NOTES.

THE SPECIALIST CORPS.

NO TANK BATTALION.

[BY TELEGRAPn.— CORRESPONDENT.]

WELLINGTON. Saturday. Inquiries are received from time to time from recruits who wish to join specialist branches of 'the Expeditionary Force. When questioned as to the method of selection of men for these units the chief of the genera! staff, Colonel C. M. Gibbon, C.M.G., explained that recruits for the Wireless Troop are taken on the recommendation of the secretary of the Post and Telegraph Department. If the men selected by that official were not actually in camp, arrangements were made to have them attested and sent into camp as required. If the men selected were, however, in camp at the time of selection, the) - were transferred from whatever unit in which they were serving to the Wireless Troop reinforcements. In tho case of machine-gunners the chief machine-gi!.n instructor personally sees the recruits when Uiey enter camp and makes his selection from, the men who have had previous machine-gun training in the territorials or from those, if they have had no training, who have had mechanical knowledge in civil life. The chief signalling instructor carries out his selection of signallers in a similar manner to the machino-gun instructor, the men selected being those who have had previous territorial training in a signal unit, or ex-em-ployees of the Post and Telegraph Department and Railway Department. The number of men required every four weeks is, approximately, Machine-gunners, 75; signallers, 25. The formation of the Tank Battalion has been definitely dropped, and no men are required to be Bent forward as reinforcements for this unit. If the Tank Battalion had been formed arrangements were made not to send men specially as tank reinforcements, but as additional infantry up to the number required.

Progress of Recruiting. The latest progress report of the Director of Recruiting relating to recruits under orders for Trentham camp includes the fiftieth draft, which is due to concentrate in February, 1919. The number of men so far available for this draft is 121, of which 19 belong to the Auckland military .district. For the October, November, January and February reinforcements 4355 recruits are available, as follows: — October, 1908; November, 1350; January, 976; February, 121. There are now 1256 recruits for the next four CI camp reinforcements, as follows : —September, 515; October, 389; November, 229; January, 123. Of these the Auckland military district is supplying for September 137, October 102, November 60 and January 21. Men With Three Children. In a report of the Acting-Prime Minister's speech at Karori, which appeared in the Herald on September 18, Sir James Allen is reported to have said that "he did not think Second Division men with three children would be balloted for before 1919." It has already been announced by the Recruiting Board that the first ballot for Class D will not be held until January next, and there is no reason to believe that' this decision will be rescinded. Men with three children will therefore be available, at the earliest, for the Fiftythird reinforcement draft, which will concentrate from April 29 to May 3. Next Year's Reinforcements. The men from the Auckland military district, who are posted to the first four reinforcements drafts of 1919 are due to leave Auckland for Trentham camp on the following dates:-Forty-ninths, January 9; fiftieth, February 6; fifty-first, March 6; fifty-second, April 3. Reinforcement drafts from Auckland tor the special CI training camp at Featherston will leave Auckland as follows:—Sixteenth January 20; seventeenth, February 20; eighteenth, MaTch 20; nineteenth, April 17. Medical Re-examinations. In cases where a reservist who has been classed fit A. Bl camp, or CI, is granted a medical re-examination, and is again classed either A, Bl camp, or 01, he is not entitled to any extension of time by virtue of his re-examination, but must proceed to camp as originally ordered at the time of his first examination. Where special circumstances have resulted in him missing his original draft, the man is given 14 days' leave as from the date of his re-examination, and is ordered to report for the purpose of proceeding to; camp as a special case at the expiration of the 14 days. Where an A or Bl classification is amended to CI at the re-examina-tion, the man is ordered into camp with the first CI reinforcement draft leaving his group after the date on which he was originally ordered to concentrate with the ordinary* draft for Trentham camp.

The Forgetful Father. The married man who fails to maintain his children was specially provided for by Order-in-Council dealing with the classification of reservists of the Second Division of the Reserve. In this Order-in-Council it is stipulated that a deserted child shall not be taken into consideration bv the Government statistician when deriding the class of the Second Division to which the father belongs. It is explained that " a deserted child means a child whose father has for a period of not less than three months next before the date of this Order-in-Council (September 3 1917) failed without just cause to provido that child with adequate maintenance" The Order-in-Council concludes: " The circumstance that the marriage of a reservist has been dissolved, or that he has been judicially separated from his wife by decree of judicial separation, separation order, or otherwise, or that the reservist has not the lef»' guardianship or custody of his child, shall not be deemed to constitute a just cause for failin* to provide his child with adequate maintenance within the meaning of the foregoing provisions." During the past VI months a number of erring husbands have been called up by ballot by the Government statistician much earlier than would have been the case had they provided for their children. These men, whero fit, have been sent into camp, and have left on active service, irrespective of the number of their dependants. Discharges From the Forces. Complaints are frequently received from men who were discharged from the Expeditionary Force in the earlier stages of the war' after a brief period of training in camp, and subsequently find themselves called up in the ballot. Section 3, subsection 2 (b) of the Military Service Act provides that soldiers who have been discharged from the Expeditionary Force or from any other portion of flia Majesty's Forces, in consequence of '"'isablement or ill-health, after service beyond the seas during the present war, are exempt from further service. The man who has not been discharged -medically unfit as the result of service overseas, however, is still liable to be again called to the colours, and where such discharges _ have Ixe.i issued the Government statistician lias no option but to replace the names of the men concerned on the roll of the reserve Early in 1916 the practice of issuing discharges to men who have never left the Dominion was discontinued by the military authorities, and " certificates of leave in lieu of discharge" were given instead. Tin's renders it unnecessary to call up a man in the ballot, as he remains a soldier on leave, without pay, and can be summoned for medical re-examination at any time, An occasional married man who was discharged from the forces prior to the introduction of the r.ew procedure is still being drawn in the ballot in accord ance with the provisions of the Military Service Act.