MILITARY SERVICE ACT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 828, 5 October 1916, Page 2

MILITARY SERVICE ACT.

THE VERY LAST CHANCE.

DEALING WITH THE SUSPECTS

The Hon. James Allen, chairman of the Recruiting Board, issued the following statement last night:— The work of preparing registers of the first and second divisions of the Expeditionary Force Reserve under the Military Service Act is now proceeding apace. It is just possible that the quotas of the new group recruiting districts for the 23rd Reinforcement (the November draft) will be based on the men available in the first division of the reserve, but in any case the machinery for taking a ballot should voluntary recruiting not produce the men required, will then be in full working order. The Recruiting Board is very satisfied with the manner in which men of military age have responded to the proclamation and enrolled in the reserve, but while this response has been quite up to expectations, I have reason to believe that a number of reservists have not enrolled, and I desire to sound a final note of warning.

Every man of military age who applied for his certificate of enrolment should now have received a card of acknowledgment. If any man has not got this card, it must be because either his application or the acknowledgment card has gone astray in transit. His proper course is to at once forward another application to the Government Statistician, because it is not intended to await the issue of the certificates of

enrolment before taking action in the case of men who, there is reason to believe, are evading their legal obligations. In view of the probable early application of the ballot it would be manifestly unjust to permit any man, by reason of the fact that he has not enrolled, to increase the chances of citizens who have loyally done their duty, and therefore it is intended to round up all suspects, and ask them to produce an acknowledgment card as proof that they have applied for a certificate of enrolment.

I wish to make it clear that it is not proposed to immediately take advantage of the general provisions of Section 44, which empowers a constable to question any man who may reasonably be supposed to be of military age. Present action is to be restricted to specific cases where the Government Statistician or the police has reason to believe that men have not registered. On conviction all such men will be called up for service with the Expeditionary Force under Section 34 of the Act.