THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 October 1915, Page 7

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Oct. 25. The work of taking the National Register will begin to-morrow morning, and, although to-day was officially a holiday, some of the officers wio have the work in hand are very busy men. The amount of labor involved in the distribution and collection of the forms through the Dominion will be very nearly as great as it would he if a census of the ordinary kind were being taken, since practically every household in the Dominion contains at least one man of the prescribed ages and so requires a form. The registration cards themselves are going to form the Register, which will be of the card-index pattern similar to that in use in the various branches of the Poßt Office Savings Bank. The transcription of the information provided by the completed fornis would be a work of enormous magnitude. One hears that some.men are going to refuse to fill in the forms. Certain water-siders and miners have been talking in this direction, and the authorities are prepared to find a few objectors, conscientious or otherwise. The Act under which the Register is belug taken provides fairly heavy penalties for noncompliance (a line of £IOO or six months' imprisonment), but it does not seem probable that any men will be given an opportunity to make martyrs of themselves. The purpose of the Register, primarily at any rate, is to ascertain from each man of military age whether or not he is prepared, if required, to enlist in the military forces. The man who refuses to answer the simple question, which commits him to nothing, may fairly he set down as a man who is not willing to serve.