The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. FRIDAY APRIL 30, 1915. MORE MEN WANTED.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144668, 30 April 1915, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. DAILY EVENING. FRIDAY APRIL 30, 1915. MORE MEN WANTED.

The Imperial authorities havingasked dor an addition to the Expeditionary Force from .New Zealand, ir.resnei-iive of the' regular ■ hafts, the Minister of Defence has intimated that four-thousand men will be required by the middle of June for the additional battalions and for the Seventh Reinforcements. Sima' a considerable proportion of those who oiler their services fail to pass (he medical test, this means (hut fully six thousand men must register within the next six weeks, after which sufficient will still he needed to make up succeeding drafts. Six thousand men in six weeks seems a large number to make up. but the .Dominion ean. and no douot will, provide them. There •are thousands of young men in (own and country, both physically and in even- other way well fitted for becoming soldiers, who, we are sure, win eagerly register now that the Empire makes a definite call for them. Hitherto many of these men have refrained from offering their services not because of any reluctance In serve their country, lint because (lie call has not ueeu presented to them as urgent. The Government, acting under advice from Home, has asked for a definite number of men to go into training preparatory to being sent to the front, and that number has been forthcoming without difficulty. Thai being so, many of those quite willing to serve have not done so because they believed they were not immediately needed, and that they would be doing their duty in iheir country equally well by continuing in their usual avocations until the call to arms became more urgent. That time* has come. The young manhood of the Mother Country has responded nobly to the call and continues to do so, but there are limits to the number of men who can be spared for the firing line. Many who are eager to enlist are not allowed to do so because they are wanted even more urgently to manufacture the munitions and supplies essential to the successful conduct of the war. England cannot go on indefinitely taking men from the factories and the transporting services to train them f or the firing line without dangerously weakening the ability of the country to furnish supplies for the men at the front. Hence the request for more men from this and the other dominions, where they can be better spared. There is no reflection upon the young men of New Zealand in the urgent call that is now made. It is only that the Empire now wants more men from here than had previously been asked for.- The call, we are sure, will he eagerly responded to. The spirit that moved young Lincoln Francis four months ago to work his passage to England in order that: he might join the Empire’s army will be found to animate thousands of other youths who, now that the first expeditionary force from the Dominion has reached the firing lino and been given the opportunity to show its mettle, will he eager to follow the good example shown them. The stirring address by the Rev. Dr. Gibb, which will be found in another column, should have an inspiring effect ul'so, and it will be within the power, as it is within the province, of many others who by reason of their age or other disquali-

fixations are unable to offer their services, to help and persuade those who arc fitted to come forward. Thfi excuse should not be offered that New Zealand has already done more than other do-

minions in proportion to her population. The Empire wauls our best and Nov* Zealand should willingly give it. Four thousand more men must be in camp by the middle of June. Lei it not be said that Taranaki is not furnishing her quota. l.’nther let it be exceeded. Every young man who is physically fit should at once register his name at the nearest defence oliice and present himself for medical examination. If he ;s not. required to-day lie may be to-morrow or next month. None should leave his occupation mu 111 lie is notified io proceed to the 1 ruining camp, but all who urn fit should he prepaid! to go when the rail comes. And the great fact In he noted just now is that four thousand are needed in the next six weeks.