WANTED, 1000 MEN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144854, 4 December 1915, Page 2

WANTED, 1000 MEN.

AT ONCE. DEFENCE DEPARTMENT'S APPEAL. Yesterday the Defence Department issued an appeal lor men. Tne substance or in© request is tnac 10uu aion are urged to register at once* 'me state of recruiting, it is stated, is giving me Department concern. Tien were not .cointug TCTward. m nearly sufficient numbers, ana if tne situation was not remedied immediately tne matter would be serious, it nad been represented tnat tne reason ror tne present 'Hanging back was tnat ©ligiola men aid not wisn. to spend tne Cnristmas ana -New' Tear honuays in camp, but if this was true tn© Department considered that it couid only be due to lauure on tne part or d©w Zealand mannood ‘to understand the urgency of tne call. The statement proceeds;—

‘'rite position is tnat IUOO men are wanted to register at once to mate up 60fJ men, tne balance required for the iniantry of tne ftlevenih .Reinforcements going into camp on December jU. If these men are not forthcoming by the required date it will mean that t\ew neaiand for the hrst time will have failed to fulfil the definite pledge she has given to tne Imperial Government, and, more than that, that we will have failed in our duty to our own force in the field by not maintaining them at the strength required. It has been suggested that the number might easily be made up after Christmas. So they might, but that will involve serious consequences. If the draft is to receive the full period of training arranged for, it follows that it will depart at a later date. That, in other words, means that it will arrive at the front behind’its due time, with consequences which no one mu foretell. But this is by no means the most serious aspect of the question. , “A more grave matter is that if the Elevenths are a fortnight or three weeks, behind the scheduled time in leaving, the departure of subsequent drafts yill be delayed in proportion the reason being that the time-table for the transports has been so narrowed down that they cannot possibly get back in time to complete future engagements. “There remain only two alternatives— ■ '

(1) To , send the Elevenths away seriously short. (2) If the draft is made up later to send a very considerable numh’er of the men away only partially trained on the due date.” The objections to the first of these alternatives had already been . dealt with. The second would mean that not only would a large number of the men go away not fully trained, but that the efficiency of the whole draft would suffer- as a result. Under these circumstances the Defence authorities appealed with confidence to the eligible men of New Zealand to fill up the ranks at once. They did not believe that, knowing the position, 1000 men could not be found who would be willing to forego their Christmas and New Year holidays in order to meet most urgent requirements. 1