THE SUPPLY OF MEN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144715, 25 June 1915, Page 6

THE SUPPLY OF MEN.

NO EXTRA DEMANDS MADE, DOMINION’S FINE RESPONSE. MORE MOUNTED MEN. P£K PRESS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, Juno 24. To-day a representative of tho New Zealand Times brought under tho notice of the Minister for Defence (tho Hon. James Allen) the cablegrams from Melbourne regarding the Federal Government’s call for additional recruits. One of the messages attributes to the Federal Prime Minister a statement that within tho last forty-eight hours Great Britain had “appealed for more men, with or without equipment.” Senator Pearce, tho Federal Minister for Defence, is reported to have said: “The British authorities havo informed us that every man is wanted. It is not for yon to ask whether tho Government can provide uniforms. Every man is wanted, whether we are able to find uniforms or equipment or not.” Mr. Allan said that no communication .of tho- kind described in the Australian cablegrams had reached him. The Imperial authorities had not asked Now Zealand to send men over and above the drafts already arranged for, and they had not indicated that unequipped men wore wanted. The communications he had made public previously had gone in the other direction ; indeed their effect was that only fully trained and fully-equipped troops were wanted from the Dominions. A communication from the Imperial authorities read by Lord Liverpool at a recent patriotic meeting iu Wellington had stated plainly that an increase in Now Zealand’s contribution of men was not desired, owing to tho difficulty of providing additional equipment at the present juncture.

Tlio .Minister added that the position in regard to recruiting was very much more satisfactory in Now Zealand than in Australia. He was inclined to believe that the newspapers had misinterpreted the statements made by the Federal Ministers, who had been seeking to promote recruiting. Now Zealand had maintained the original physical standard, and had accepted men between the .ages of twenty and forty years only, and had got the recruits leister til an they could be sent into ramp. Australia had reduced the physical standard and was taking men between the ages of eighteen and fortvfive in the effort to encourage enlistment. New Zealand’s position was a gratifying one, and he believed the men of tho Dominion would continue to maintain it by coining forward promptly. Tho Minister for Defence announced to-day that tho Imperial authorities had accepted an offer made by the New Zealand Government to bring the reinforcements already dispatched for mounted rifles to the same percentage as that of infantry, that was to say, an increase of from 10 per cent, tn in per cent, per month of tho establishment of mounted rifles serving with the expeditionary force in the field. In round numbers the offer would involve the training and dispatch of, more than 1000 men in addition to tho regular reinforcement requirements.