The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16. 1916. RECRUITING.

Southland Times, Issue 17658, 16 February 1916, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16. 1916. RECRUITING.

The recruiting scheme is gradually taking shape, and as it comes into greater prominence public interest in it will grow. The efforts of the Government to make the voluntary system successful should be generally approved, and that all who are able to lend assistance should give it. It is only fair that throughout the Empire every effort should be made to obtain the men required for the forces by voluntary recruiting. If the Empire can win this war with a voluntary army it will be a remarkable triumph of patriotism, and even those who believe that compulsory service is more equitable and more democratic should gladly do what they can to cooperate in this new scheme. Most public bodies, we hope, will share the views of the Southland County Council rather than those of the Waipa and Master ton Councils. These bodies laid themselves open to a caustic retort which, the authorities were not slow to administer. There appears, however, to be a very strong consensus of opinion that conscription should come now, and the Wellington City Council has gone so far as to refuse assistance to the new scheme on the ground that nothing should be done tc delay the adoption cf compulsion. This, we think, is a matter in which public bodies and individuals should subordinate their opinions to the wishes of the Government. Lord Derby was in favour of oompusory service, but he willingly headed the great movement to make the voluntary system successful and his example is a good one to follow. The Southland County Council, nearly all of whose members arc iu favour of conscription (to use

the word commonly used though it is not the right word), gave an admirable lead lo other local bodies in deciding to co-operate in the scheme. There is one detail in which the scheme is somewhat loose. Attention has been directed to it in some of the northern newspapers and an explanation from the Recruiting Board is certainly called for. Both married and unmarried men eligible for service are to he canvassed. This is quite right and proper, as there are many married men of military age who are in a position to join the colours. There are married men who can make ample provision for their dependants, and whoso business responsibilities can be undertaken by others. Married men in this position must he prepared to serve if need arises, and they ought to serve before the single man who maintains his mother and sisters by his earnings. At the same time it must be recognised that as between the free single men and the free married men the duty lies first upon the unmarried. This principle was established for the Empire in Lord Derby’s scheme. The Prime Minister of Britain pledged his Government that the married men who registered would not be called to the colours until all the single men had joined either voluntarily or by compulsion. The Government’s view r was that before marrrec men could reasonably be expected to join the new armies all single men who were willing to serve must go forward, and all single men w'ho failed to recognise their duty must he made to see it and perform it. In this country there are some single men who have heavier personal and business obligation than some married men, and it is therefore impossible to draw a hard and fast line between single and married men. The single man who has dependents whose whole livelihood is his earnings is less free to go cr. active service fh.au the married man who has means which put his wife and family beyond the reach of want. But while these cases must be taken into account, it is indisputable that as between free single men and free married men the duty of service lies first upon the single men. Now it is the purpose, apparently, to divide recruits into two classes. The A class will contain the names of those w r ho sign on for some definite draft; that is to say that put their names dowm for the 14th or the 19th or the 24th Reinforcements. They choose their time for going on active service, and it may be close at hand or it may be remote. The second cr B class consists of those who are willing to serve wherever they may be called, upon with the sole condition that they are given fourteen days’ notice. It is obvious that this rough classification may lead to anomalies as between single and married men. It is the intention to ,raake up any shortage in a specific draft of reinforcements by a call upon the B class. At the present moment the 13th Reinforcements are about 120 men short. If the B class were already in existance the authorities could bring the 13th Reinforcements to their full strength by summoning the necessary number of men from this class. It is obvious that single men, perfectly free to serve but anxious to escape their obligations as long as possible, may put their names down for service with some draft of reinforcements a long way ahead. There might be a shortage of single men for the 14th Reinforcements next month, while there are scores of single men without dependents or ties in the lists for reinforcements from the 20th or 3Uh drafts, and the authorities might then call up married men, who make a. real sacrifice in going on service, to fill in the gaps in the Fourteenth that ought to be filled by the young single men who have postponed their service till January or February next year. Emphatically this would not be right. Even if the married man is able to make provision for his dependents be owes a personal duty to his wife and children which cannot be lightly thrown, aside, and he should not he expected, however willing he may be, to go on active service so long as there are available single young men without binding ties or responsibilities. When there is a shortage in any reinforcement draft means should be found of making it up from single men listed for later drafts with no valid excuse for postponing the date of service. It cannot be argued that no compulsion can be used as the system is voluntary. A measure of compulsion is already used, and the use cf a greater degree of compulsion is justified in the case of free single men who wish to gain all the credit of having enlisted, but preserve their chance of escape from active service by putting their names down for some remote draft. This is a question that calls for the attention of the Recruiting Board with a view to dealing fairly as between married men and single.