THE CALL FOR MEN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144669, 1 May 1915, Page 2

THE CALL FOR MEN.

MR. ALLEN GIVES FIGURES. SLOWNESS OP SOUTH ISLAND. PEE PRESS ASSOCIATION. DUNEDIN, April 30. At a recruiting meeting in the Ga son Hall to-night the Minister of defence 1 -made ai stirring speech, urging the young-mem to enlist. In the course or his remarks ho , gave some interestmg figures in regard to recruiting and the number of men that would be' required in the future. Considering the magnitude of the operations-that-.were developing, the Government had considered it its" duty to offer to' the Mother Country an, additional number or men, and had offered another battery of artillery and another brigade of mounted men or two battalions of infantry. The battery and ‘ battalions of infantry had been accepted. : On the previous night he had referred'to’the fact that New Zealand: had - already sent lo ,000 men to the front 'and over 1400 men to occupy Samoa; in addition to which 250 New ’Zealanders in'London had enlisted and joined the main bbdv. and 62 nurses had gone a-way. 50 to the order'of the Army Council to proceed wherever they were told, 12 who had joined the Australian nursing contingent, which was' gjn'ng to the front. He wished to’say something 1 about' the requirements for the future. Before December 12 the authorities wdnld require 10,600 • men * and approximately 3700 horses. This was in ‘accordance with our engagement with the’ War Office. Tbijn; between December 30 and "April of next year 5300 men and "approximately 1500 horses woukl .be ,required. That was to say that, between now ‘.and April, 1916, the authorities, in- New Zealand' would reouire close on 16,000 men and nearly 5200'Horses.j ' Under the new scheme of registration for .enlistment, which came into force on February' 15, 1013, the following numbers have been registered—ln- tho Auckland distinct 3054, in the’Wellington district 1 1972, in the Canterbury district 2090, and in the Otago'district 841. or a total of 7060.; He’ did not wish, to make any adverse comment on the .figures relating to Otago, 7 but he belonged to the- place and it was generally the case that Otago i was not Teft behind in.any movement of .great, moment. As lie had said, 10,600 men were required before December 15, but registration ought to be considerably in excess of this number, as they, had to allow for about 40 per cent, of medical rejects.

[As Wellington and Auckland military districts cover all the North land and Otago and Southland,, all the South Island a fairer way of putting the figures is— North.,lsland 5026 South Island 2934 7m According to the census figures of 19H the distribution of recruits'should have been: North Island 4450, South Island 3510.] In future, this country would have to mako provision so ttuat there ■ would never be 40 per cent, uhfitted for enrolment again, should the neoessity.,occur. It was our duty to mako provision among the children to remove some of the defects and an effort was being made to do this now. As the .figures he had given showed, between.the pres-, ent time and December 30 each'of the four districts ought to find, inclusive of 40 per cent, for medical rejects, about 4350 men, or a total of 17,400 men: It had been suggested that the Government: should ttrovide a badge for those who had registered and- had been turned down by the doctors, in order that these might not have their loyalty or courage aspersed,' but be did not know if, tho Government could, adopt such a badge. He wished that He could devise: a scheme by which one might know’ thosewho were serving and those who could serve and were not doing so. Mr. Allen also wished :to refer ■ to some other figures-of interest by way of refly to a criticism which had appeared in tho Manchester Guardian, in England, to the effect, as he understood it, that the men who were'enlisting in New Zealand were not New Zealanders, hut Britishers who' had 1 come out,. and settled in New .Zealand. In reply to that lie had to say that of the main body that went away' a strength of 8417, no less than 624] were-actually born in New Zealand/while the others were born' in the British Isles or other parts of the Empire, hilt hbw long' they had been in New Zealand he-was not able to ’say. Those' figures, however, were a complete answer to' the.'Manchester Guardian. He thought 1 it was unfair of ,a British paper _to, have set itself to work to discredit New Zealanc ■without having taken the trouble tr communicate with the. authorities ir New Zealand on the subject.