DOMINION'S PART.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1915, Page 5

DOMINION'S PART.

MINISTER OF DEFENCE. IMPORTANT STATEMENT AT AUCKLAND. THE QUESTION OF C SCRIPTION. By Telegraph.—Press soeiation. Auckland, iast Night. The Minister of Defence, interviewed yesterday, stated emphatically that he did not think there wa- the slightest likelihood of local or receiving camps being established. "Sm ~■ camps cannot produce efficiency," he said. "We have not the staff nor the equipment. The results of the present system are extremely satisfactory, and I should be doing a wicked wrong if I attempted to destroy it." 4 The Minister went on to explain that it was very difficult to obtain officers for training men, and with local camps, increasing the need for such men, the difficulty would be increased. The Minister emphatically denied that he had said he would call on the willing men first for service. What he had said was that a number of men had stated they were willing to serve under the voluntary system, and they could not be compelled to serve. Referring to unwilling men, the Minister said that the position was not as bad as it seemed, and he gave figures of the analysis of 500 cards (recently published). He said that the analysis showed that many men were medically unfit, and others had ties which did not permit of their serving. It was not right to prejudge th*\men. Some might be. shirkers, but a great many were not. The Minister went on to foreshadow a new scheme of recruiting. The main principle would be personal contact with men by recruiting committees. At present Wellington had a splendid recruiting committee, and Canterbury was preparing a good organisation on similar lines. The projected scheme might include local bodies as recruiting committees. There was need for more committees and co-ordination of effort.

Asked if »he system of the North in making good the shortages in the South was fair, the Minister said that in the past the basis of quota assessments was wrong; in the future assessments will be based on thip actual returns of the National Register, "and I shall expect everybody to do their share. Up to the end of Octolber, on the basis of the military register, Otago had done its share."

The Minister could not say if there was any likelihood of Parliament being called together to consider conscription. Certainly, he said, it is unlikely so long as the voluntary principle fulfilled /requirements. Conscription would involve a question as to who should go to the front and who it was essential should remain at home. Even now certain - industries, such as woollen mills and coal-mining, were being protected. The voluntary system, even with discrimination in the matter of enlisting workers, did not possess all the advantages of conscription, but he would not enter into a comparison of the advantages of the two systems. The Minister said there was every likelihood of free railway, passes being granted to returned soldiers. He refused details, but said that instructions would be issued by circular in a few da vs.