THE THIRD ECHELON

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4234, 22 January 1940, Page 5

THE THIRD ECHELON

SLACKENED RESPONSE IN No. 4 AREA. 56 VOLUNTEERS IN WEEK. For the week ending on Saturday last, the No. 4 area has received 56 recruits from the district. Actual enlistments have been larger than that plumber, however, but many of the volunteers have been holidaymakers from other districts and, as a result, their enlistments have been transferred to their home area. Although the recruiting in the No. 4 area slackened somewhat during the week, a similar tendency has been evident throughout New Zealand. In the No. 4 area the response has been maintained considerably better than in many of the districts. With one or two exceptions only, all the recruits during the week were single men. Since the outbreak of the war on September 3 the No. 4 area has secured 1861 volunteers. Of this number 1457 have already appeared before the medical and dental boards, and 1144 have passed fit for active service in any part of the world, 156 are temporarily unfit and 157 are permanently unfit. READY TO ENCAMP. As many as 254 men have been held back from going into camp because they are engaged on reserved occupations, or in positions in which the Placement Officer has not been able to replace them with competent men. With 110 recruits entering the training camps last week from the No. 4 area, the number of men despatched to camp since the outbreak of war has reached 762. A considerable number of volunteers is at present awaiting a call to go before the medical boards. In the case of the married men with children, many of them are not being called up in the meantime. In fact, only 69 married men are serving in the - military camps at the present time from this area. While the No. 4 quota for the third echelon has not *been announced the officers will encamp on February 1 and a few weeks later the non-com-missioned officers are expected to be called up. Already the area has 120 men ready to proceed to camp at a moment’s notice. However, several men may be taken from that number to compensate for withdrawals from the second echelon as a result of troops becoming ill or injured. Men may also be required for special duties. In view of that recruiting will have to be maintained at a fairly consistent rate in order to have sufficient men for the third echelon quota.

On Friday there were 14 enlistments only in the No. 4 area, the smallest number for many days. Next Wednesday medical boards and dental boards will sit at Hamilton, Te Kuiti, and Te Awamutu.