THE PERSONAL CANVASS

Southland Times, Issue 17749, 2 June 1916, Page 6

THE PERSONAL CANVASS

WORK FAR BEHIND. LESS THAN 30 PER CENT. OP ' ■ * - CARDS IN. URGENCY AND .IMPORTANCE OF •• THE- WORK. - BEARING UPON COMPULSORY ' . SERVICE. APPEAL BY RECRUITING BOARD. (By Telegraph.) WELLINGTON, June 1. Now tlmfihe Goveqpmcnfs proposals with regard to compulsory service have been announced the Recruiting Board desires to impress upon local bodies and the public of New Zealand that the necessary amount of energy is not being put into the national recruiting scheme in some districts. The position - to-day is that only a part of the task set the country three months ago has been accomplished. in .February-, last, in order to facilitate recruiting and at the same time provide a sound base for the readjustment of district quotas and the introduction of compulsion- (should that become necessary).’ citizens were asked to undertake'the personal canvass with a view 10 seeing that a report card was sent in with respect to every man of military age in each district. This l involved a big work—the sending in of over "'in.onn cards, divided amongst 312 local districts—but the Board regrets .to have to announce that although more than sufficient time has elapsed in which to complete the undertaking the results, so far as they concern the checking amt completing of 'the rolls, have been extremely disappointing. To date only 30,000 cards Save been received at the Board’s office, and no more than 5000 are in transit—making a total of 35,000 out of over 200,000. It is a remarkable fact, too, that many of the local -bodies which have been most insistent in urging compulsory measures have so faT made no effort to do the preliminary work that is essential to the equitable enforcement of the principle they advocate. One of the main purposes of the National Register was to provide a groundwork for the completion of complete and accurate rolls. It could not be complete itself because (a) It was natural to expect that numbers of men would evade the Act by not filling in the registration forms, or by giving false information such as wrong addresses, etc. ; (b) Many men have arrived In and ‘ departed from New Zealand since tho taking of the register: (0) Many men have changed their places of residence, with the result that their addresses given in the National Register are now incorrect. The National Register rolls for the purpose of re-allotting district quotas or of applying compulsion are thus more or less incomplete. Every effort hais been made in the Military Service Bill to ensure a complete register, but the Board feels that unless it has the assistance of the people with the Ibcai knowledge in each district many loopholes of escape will still remain for the man who intends, if possible, to evade his responsibility. The only way to secure reasonably Perfect rolls is by the systematic personal canvass urged by the Board tifree months ago. and the Board submits that those who should carry it out are the citizens over the military ago working in conjunction with the local authority in each district. The reasons why the local authorities apd local residents, are called, upon to do 'this work are "mainly these: (1) The hands of the Government and the Defence E>epartmcnt are full: (2) Local bodies and local resident- 1 ?, because of .their local knowledge, are the on|y ones who know who should and who should not be on the roll. If they do their duty in seeing that©very cligibl© man is enrolled no man can escape his obligations. Likewise it lies within their power to keep Hi'a, rolls up to date by promptly reporting every removal from and arrival in their district. It must be recognised that no Act of compulsion will be fair or equitable unless every man of military age is on the roll. The-reasons, arc obvious. The roll Is the only instrument under which men can be called up. and as compulsion must apply to all men of military age alike it is wholly unfair that some should be compelled to go because they are on the roll, and others escape because they are not. The completion of the rolls is necessary, not only to apply compulsion generally. bufth “ order "to "levy the quotas fairly as between district and district. This *s specially so .when, as is the case at present. New Zealand only requires drafts of -2350 men every four weeks to meet committments. District quotas 'ran only be levied fairly when they are based on the number of men of military age remaining in each district, thus giving each district full credit for any excess it may have sent in before/and requiring others which have never done their share to make up their shortages. That is fair, and the various districts are vitally interested in seeing that principle applied. The L'efence Department, however, can only give effect to this it supplied with proper rolls. It will be readily understood that the accurate data that has already been supplied by a few localities will be greatly depreciated lor this purpose unless similar work is taken in hand by all adjoining districts until the rolls for Hie whole of the dominion have been made as nearly perfect as possible. With this information to guide it the Defence Department will be in a position to so adjust the quotas that each group will be onlyasked to supply for future drafts a number based on its performance in the past ami its existing supply of men of military age At present ttie Defence Department is acting on a roil that shows so many men in a district even 'though they may not be there. Unless each district can show exactly the number of men left in it the authorities cannot possibly mahe a fair and accurate adjustment.. This re-allollvnenl will be made from month to month if necessary, so that full credit can at once be given to each district for the recruits it has sent forward. As its eligible men volunteer, and so reduce its number of men of military age. the quota of that district •will be posted from time to time in proportion to the number ot men of military age. remaining in ether districts. The districts, therefore, which prefer to continue to raise their quotas under tho voluntary principle will thus have a strong incentive to do so. Further, provided ilsr local authorities supply a proper roll.- no group will be penalised by having tb supptr more than its proper quota. A further vital point is that men cannot be selected according to their respective classes when there Is no complete roll available. This is of special concern to married men with dependent.', who should therefore -see that not only arc they themselves on tiie roll but that every other man is. If men with dependents do not acquaint the recruiting committees or Defence -authorities with their responsibilities how can they ex- „ pe’ct the recruiting committees and Defence authorities to know them? Thus the more men there are on the rolls the less chance is" there 01 any man being called on before bis turn. If citizens over tiie military age ii.ro not to be charged with lacking in patriotism then they must display moreenergy than they are manifesting at present. The work i? as urgent as it is necessary, if New Zealand is to fulfill its military obligations and injustice is not to be done. Will; three months gone there is a large proportion of the work yet to do. Several districts, though late, are nowgetting under way. hut others have done little or- HotMng «1 all. It '.is to these bitter districts,., that the RecruitingBoard earnestly appeals, anil in doing so would point out that wherever the person-! 1 -.-amass has been tried few, if any. difficulties have been experienced anil no insults have been received. Indeed, the general experience, has been that men'have ducked to tiie recruiting offices as sf\er before, ensuring the success of the -voluntary system locally for months to come. But in the event of voluntarism failing the nation must be in a position to immediately apply compulsion'. and tills cannot be fairly done without having complete rolls, which in turn cannot b,e secured without carrying out„a complete canvass in each local • district. ' W. F. Massey, Ghjurruan, Recruiting Board.