THE CALL FOR MEN

Otago Witness, Issue 3215, 27 October 1915, Page 50

THE CALL FOR MEN

DEFENCE MINISTER SPEAKS. A large number of the male employees of Messrs A. and T. Burt, J. and W. Faulkner, Brinsic-y and Co., and Schlaadt Bros, mustered in the foundry of the first-mcn-tioncd_firm at 1 p.m. on the 19th, and Col. Stonoham, the Hon. J. Allen, and the Rev. W. A. Hay addressed them, making a strong appeal to such as were in a position to enlist to do so. The appeal was made in pursuance of the scheme which has been initiated for urging men in their own planes of business to join the colours. Colonel Stoneham presided. The Chairman said it was fully realised that necessary productive works should not be disorganised. But in all manufactories they were some men who could be dispensed with, even if they had to be replaced with somewhat less competent hands. That was part of the sacrifice that employers had to make, and they had responded very well to the necessity. Ho would mention one firm alone—that of Messrs A. and T. Burt. Thirty-seven men had already gone from its branch in Dunedin, 29 from Auckland, 3 from Wellington, and 1 from Christchurch. (Applause.) "it was necessary that the full sympathy of employers should be enlisted, and he could assure those who went away that nobody whom they left behind would gj unprovided for. “I would not dare to come hero and speak to you on this subject if I were not doing all I could at this time, and if those who belong to me bad not done their duty,” said the Minister of Defence. “ I have not spoken anywhere with regard to my son, but I want to allude to my own sacrifice to-day. It is a great sacrifice to lose perhaps the most promising boy one has, but I have made that sacrifice perfectly willingly. Ho was a young, unmarried man, he went to do his duty, and ho set an example to other young unmarried men. Ho has been killed in action. I am proud of him, and I would bo proud to know that every other young unmarried man in New Zealand had taken the same chances. I have another son, who cannot go. Ho is a clergyman, and has disabilities that will not allow him to volunteer, but he would go if ho could. Ho has been a tremendous consolation to mo, and has led me to see that when one loses a son, if he had led a good life and shows good promise for the future, ho is not really lost, but lie, and others like him, are making the foundation of the Now Zealand of the future. I do not believe there are shirkers in the community. Some are hesitating because they do not think the time has come. But I appeal to the unmarried men. There must be some very great claim on them to keep them back at present. It is their duty to go before the married men. New Zealand has done well. The volunteer system has proved an efficient one up to the present, and Heaven send it may continue so ! But. if it does not. there is only one course. We cannot lose in this war, and if we can win it only on a system of compulsion then compulsion must come, but never with my wish.” Continuing, Mr Allen advised those, present to stay in their employment till called up, promising them ample notice. The system of training, he said, had proved satisfactory. The Fifth Reinforcements had gone to the front without any further training in Egypt, and the day they landed on Gallipoli they occupied trenches of the enemy, and held tlmm. Ho warned them that the position of the shirker when the war was over would be a most unenviable one, and concluded by exhorting those who were eligible to join their comrades at th© front and assist in maintaining the liberty that flourished under the British flag.— (Applause.) At the conclusion of the meeting seven men handed in their names, and a number took away registration cards. CAPTAIN DANSEY’S SPEECH. At an open-air recruiting meeting in Dunedin, Captain Roger Dansoy, the popular University and representative footballer, was greeted with cheers when he appeared to speak. Captain Dansey has just returned from the Dardanelles, and is on a fortnight’s leave. He admitted he would sooner be at tlie “Gala,” end said ho was always prepared for a rush cither there or from the trenches. —(Applause 1 The British officers could not speak highly enough of the New Zealanders now at xhe front and the work they had done. Ho could toll them that had the New Zealanders been in the Turkish positions no other force would have bad a chance of getting a footing m the Dardanelles. He wished they could hear the boys at the front telling what they wore going to do to tlie fellows who stayed behind when the need for assistance was so aveat. Every New Zealander who met with a casualty reckoned to have put six Turks out of action. “ Xou are all fit for half a dozen Turks,” ho said. “Como and enlist, and got into it.” If the curtain could only be lifted for a minute to let them see what their friends aral relatives were doing they would not hesitate a moment longer. A football rush was. not in it with a bayonet charge. —(Applause.) Ho gave a glowing description of the charges on the night of August 6 in the black darkness. The capture of every trench was marked by a rousing cheer, but in his case instead of a cheer it Tv as a good old Maori haka. It was fine to see the Maori boys dancing with their bayonet sticking through a Turk and eyes and tongue protruding. Tiio Otago boys, were advancing close by, and as every point was gained they would shout in unison, “Well done, Otago!” and the response would come, “ Well clone, Maoris!” Their magazines were empty, and all th.o

work was clone with the bayonet. That night they fought their way in for a mile over a mile and a-half frontage back from the beach that they had boon hugging all the time before. They started at 10 p.m., and by 1 a.in. they had taken all the country they wore supposed to take, though they were not expected to finish their work before dawn. “New Zealanders don’t need to bo told twice to got over that country when they arc in a charge,” said Captain Dansoy, amid applause. The colonials, were undoubtedly the proper kind of troops to take on that work. They know it, and thb British generals knew it. He concluded with a stirring appeal to the men to enlist. The immediate response during the evening could not by any means be called adequate. Six men signed on at the Town Hall, and another signified his intention to enlist after the second meeting. STATEMENT BY MR ALLEN. ’ WELLINGTON. October 22. Some interesting observations on the recruiting problem, as it now presents itself, were made by the Defence Minister to-night. “ We are m a peculiar stage just now,” said Mr Allen. “ Until we get the registration under the now Act it is very difficult for us to ascertain what really is the position in the various military districts as regards the numbers of recruits they ought to supply. I have examined very carefully the census of 1911, and I have found that, according to that census, the Auckland district had the largest number of men between the ages of 20 and 40 years. I don’t know about the numbers between 20 and 45, because I didn’t take out those figures. Next to Auckland came Wellington, and then Canterbury and then Otago. Judging by that census it looks as if Auckland ought to bo finding the largest number of recruits, but it is very difficult to come to any definite conclusion until wo get this registration through, because I fancy that the younger men have moved a good deal during the last few .years. For these reasons we are very anxious to see the results of the registration. When we got those results, we shall know where recruiting is slack, and wo shall bo able to concentrate our efforts in those districts where some stimulus is required. “ In the south it seemed to mo that there is a sort of dullness in recruiting, especially in Canterbury. What the cause of this is it is very hard to explain. I am trying to find out what really is the reason. They have been making statements in Christchurch that local camps would supply the necessary stimulus to recruiting. Possibly they would, but I am pretty sure the lack of a local camp is not the real reason for the present slackness. In Otago there is a very much better spirit than in Canterbury. I don’t wish to blame the Canterbury people. I am sure they will do their di;ty like the people in the rest of the country. Probably the urgency has not come home to them yet as it has to others.