ENLISTMENTS IN AUSTRALIA

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 10

ENLISTMENTS IN AUSTRALIA

STATEMENT BY MINISTER. QUESTION IN THE HOUSE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, July 13. A portion of the discussion on military ! matters which arose out of questions to Ministers to-day had reference to the enlistment of New Zealanders in Australia. Mr Myers asked the Minister of Defence whether his attention had been drawn to statements in the Australian press that numbers of New Zealanders had proceeded to the commonwealth at their own expense to enlist in the expeditionary forces there because they wanted to get into training without delay, and saw no immediate prospect of doing so in New Zealand. Mr Myers also asked whether, if this was the case, the Government would consider the desirability of establishing further military training camps, say, one in Auckland and another in Canterbury, with a view to meeting all possible demands on the Defence authorities. He added that in Auckland a number of excellent sites were available, a typical example being the site at One-Tree Hill, which had been brought under the notice of the Government by the Mayor of Auckland. Mr Allen said he believed there were some Now Zealanders who had gone to enlist in Australia, where the process of enlistment was different from that in Now Zealand. Here there was a well thoughtout scheme in accordance with the desire of Lord Kitchener, and its aim was to keep up a continual stream of reinforcements. It was so essential for the success of the scheme to keep these reinforcements up that he would regret any attempt in New Zealand to bring into training a large number of men. If this were done the. reinforcement would not bo kept up, and the position would be weakened instead of strengthened. He hoped the House would not endorse any such suggestion. He had received letters from the Imperial, authorities and from General Birdwood to ask that the reinforcements should bo continued. A Member: What about Lord Kitchener’s appeal? Mr Allen said this meant that in England the steady reinforcements were not being kept up m the sense that they were in New Zealand, and they had to make a special appeal to get them. The same was the case in Australia. A scheme of twomonthly reinforcements had been designed in New Zealand, and the department could carry it out if it wore not interfered with. He hoped there would be no attempt to interfere with the well thought-out scheme. He would lay on the table a memorandum on the whole subject by the Chief of the General Staff.

Mr Myers: That is not an answer to my question. These men arc desirous of registering at once, and they have to go to Australia. Mr, Allen: I think you should understand the system of’ enlistment. Mr Myers: As well as you do. Mr Allen said the Government had asked I for able-bodied men to put their names | on the registration lists. They were adi vised not to leave their work till called I upon, and were asked how much notice I they would require. He was sorry that he [ should be called upon to make these things public, but if he were harried in such a manner he had to make a statement. A Member; Do not keep it secret. Mr Allen: I will make a statement. Mr Russell: Don’t say anything foolish and put the responsibility ori to us. — (Laughter.) Mr Allen said there were men going to Australia who had come from the front invalided through their own fault. He was not agreeable to re-enlisting them. A Member: Why not? Mr Allen said that if such men put the country to the expense of training and equipping them and sending them to Egypt and bringing them back again _ they had to be punished, and a way of doing so was to keep them in private life for a time before 1 allowing them to re-enlist. Such men did not want to go back to their own districts, and they went to Australia. A Member: Do you throw that slur on all who go to Australia? Mr Allen said that he referred to some of the men. Mr Myers; I am glad you have qualified the statement. A Member: Shift the camp. _ > Another Member: Shift the Minister! Mr Russell protested against a slur being cast upon all the young New Zealanders who went to Australia to enlist. He did not believe that more than a few of the men had gone to Australia under the conditions mentioned. Oases had been brought before him both in Auckland and in Wellington of young men who desired to enlist, but who, in order to save the delay of enlisting in the dominion, had gone to Australia. Ho had known of men going down from Whangarei to Auckland and offering their service and being told that they were not wanted then, and that when they wore wanted they would be sent for. lie was sorry that the Minister in an unguarded moment had allowed a statement to escape from him which, on calm reflection, he would probably deplore. Mr Myers also expressed regret at the Minister’s statement. ’ He urged that it would bo a stop in the right direction if two more camps wore established —one in the north and one in the south—even if they were only preliminary camps. He read an extract from a Sydney paper regarding a number of New Zealanders who had recently presented themselves for enrolment there. Mr Allen: Had they sendee before? Mr Myers: Some of them had. Mr Jennings said that complaints regarding the health of the men at Trcntham had been made three months ago. The Raglan branch of the Farmers’ Union had taken the matter up in April, and had asked its member (Mr Bollard) to bring the matter before the Government. Mr Allen said he had not desired to make any statement regarding the New Zealanders who had gone to Australia, but it had boon dragged out of him. Ho did not say there were many of them, but

there -were a few whom he coukl not allow 10 re-enlist here, and they had expressed their intention of going to Australia to enlist. As to the general question of registration, he said that our policy, in nis opinion, was a sound one. They had a long list of those to go forward, and could secure their policy for several months. That was what they were asked to do, and they felt they could carry out the policy. Every letter he got from General Godley and General Birdwood asked him to keep on sending trained reinforcements. They were not asking for men in the sense of wanting further battalions, but they wanted reinforcements every two months. As to the question of local training camps a memorandum on the provision of reinforcement drafts which %vas to be laid on the table would give the opinion of the Chief of the General Staff. He hoped to be able in a day or two to put a report before the blouse on the reasons for the movement from Trontham camp, and, he thought, to show that the conditions at Trentham were not what they had been implied to be. The inquiry into the Trontham camp would come before a Royal Commission, and he would only feel satisfied when everything that could be known about Trentham was made known to the public, and when they might discover the real cause of the trouble, and be able effectively to treat it.