THE MOBILISATION OF MARRIED MEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24839, 12 February 1942, Page 6

THE MOBILISATION OF MARRIED MEN

TO THE EDITOR

Sir,—lt was recently announced that the married men called in the last ballot would be mobilised on February 16, and that all the men concerned would receive at least a week’s notice ot mobilisation. Can one presume from this that the married men who have not yet received any notice of mobilisation are not being called on February 16, and that it will probably be a little while before they will be called up? While the difficulties of the military authorities are appreciated, it must be remembered that many married men will have to arrange for the closing down, of their homes and the storing of their furniture, while in other cases men have to be transferred from other parts of New Zealand to replace men who are called up. ■ All this makes it most unsettling for a man to have to wait from day to day expecting at any moment to receive a few days’ notice of mobilisation. In any case, while one realises that, immediately after the entry of Japan into the war, men had to be called up at a day or two’s notice, surely the organisation should now have reached a stage where it would not be an impossibility to give married men two, or even three weeks’ notice of the precise date of calling up.—l am, etc., Efficiency.

Dunedin, February 10. [The commander of the Otago military area, Lieutenant-colonel J. G. Jeffery, explained yesterday ■ that every endeavour is being made by the army to give recruits a reasonable amount of notice when they are required for service. A minimum of a week’s notice is adhered to wherever possible. Often, however, drafts have to be filled at the last minute, owing to exemptions, sickness, and bereavements. In view of this, a small number of recruits may be called up at short notice. Therefore, any man called in a ballot and passed fit for service with Grade I or II qualifications after medical examination must be ready to leave for camp at short notice. —Ed., O.D.T.]