NATIONAL SERVICE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVII, Issue 165563, 15 June 1918, Page 2

NATIONAL SERVICE.

EFFICIENCY BOARD'S ACTIVITIJvS Hi© WViington orres.iondont of •'Tlio l*rcss" f.ujitof;:—Th" Nat ona" Kf- i ficiency Board has l>een late- ■> such innttcrs cs whc*>t production, I and 6|io lastmnn on the fami. A statement is promised on tlio Inst man- on | tho farm mnttcr. but it is understnod that tlio Government does not propose to make any great change in tlio existing poliey. Tho Board lia.? also, nt tlio request of tho Governmont. boon nmkiiifE preliminary investigations regarding tlio proposed regulations for so-called national service. Before anything definite can bp done, oven in rhe framin*: of regulations. tho nro-n-iso of the Government, that- all parties interested, and onrtieularlv the J.«hour people. must lio consulted, will have to '"e kept. To tli's end a conference will Ik> held in the oonr*.-> of a little time, and. if the conference is to bo a success, the proposals to coii : e beforo it must "oe put info some sort of shape. and some information should be available to tlio Government, and to the conference, as to tlio chnnnel* in which information of a useful character may be collected. It is in these preliminary matters that the Board has lately been interesting itself. A CASE IN POINT. At tho sitting of tho Militarv Appeal Board at Dunodin on Tuesday, a P.irt dial mors engineer applied" IV. iho exemption of one of his employees on tin* ground that ho was engaged in an essential industry—traiv-pDrc. and shipping work. The chairman of the Board (Mr H. Y. Widdowson, S..M). in reply to a suggestion bv Captain Free that in somo quarters PortChalmers was looked upon as a sanctuary for exempted men, said he h.ut l:oped that tho Government would ere uov- liavo taken somo steps to orgaiuso this branch of industry. " Oapta>n Free (military representative) said he thought that if tho whole of thr- eng'neorinK workers were' proper!;* organised and co-ordinated nil thV> transport work could bo dono .without the necefitv of exempting any First Division men. Then? wero long intervals during which men engagod on transport \vork at tho Port wero kept cooling their lieo'.s, and it apparently paid engineering firms to ket-p them hanging on in anticipat T on of tho irausport work. Ho tliouglvt some E«-!vemt« should bo devised whereby tho engineering sh-ps in Dunedin could make their men available nt Port when uwas : on demanded it. Tlio chairman coinmU-red Wmttho time had nrrved when tho Efficiency Boa r d should go into the wholo matter and sub-nit a report, and that promptly. ITe stated Chat, he wou'<! writs to Well : ngton aa cni'o on 'ill.' subject.