MILITARY SERVICE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 872, 25 November 1916, Page 11

MILITARY SERVICE.

INEVITABLE ERRORS. SOME OF THE CAUSES. [Special to The Sun.] WELLINGTON, November 25. i The Defence authorities had stated i in advance that the ballot would reI veal some errors owing to the impossibility of completing an absolute- ; ly accurate roll of reservists of the First Division in the limited time J available. 'Hie rule laid down for | the guidance of oflicers was that if any doubt existed regarding a particular name, it was to be placed upon | the roll. The similarity of names, insufficient addresses, partially completed registration forms, bad writling, and other factors handicapped 'the authorities in their effort to sei cure accuracy and completeness. Some of the anticipated errors rcIvealed themselves to-day, but as far las could be gathered the number was j surprisingly small. It was stated | one or two men who had been called | up were already members of the Expeditionary Force. This would be | due to error or lack of information when the roll of the reserve was bej ing checked against the lists of inemjbers of the reinforcements. A few of I lie men summoned are slating that they are not of military age. Points of this kind will be adjusted by the Military Service Boards, and any reservist who has been called up wrongfully will have the matter put right for him. Many complaints were made bv men who claimed that their names should have been starred in the published lists, since they had previously' volunteered for service, and had been rejected. There seems to have been some misunderstanding on this point. The Government Statistician had explained on several occasions through the newspapers that men who wished their names starred must produce evidence of their enlistment. The responsibility was left upon the reservists themselves, the authorities not caring to undertake the additional work of comparing the roll with the Defence Department's records for the purpose of discovering the rejected recruits. If this work had been undertaken there inevitably would have been errors and contusion, owing to insufficient and changed addresses and similarity of names.