|
THE INDENSPENSABLES On 27 July 1917 the Birmingham Post reported the following case that had come before the County Appeals Conscription Tribunal the previous day. A firm of export merchants appealed for the exemption of a departmental manager and a clerk claiming that were indispensable. The manager ran the department dealing with the Dutch colonies (i.e. the present Indonesia) and with France. He had a good knowledge of French. The clerk had been specially trained to work in the West Indies Department. He had a good knowledge of Spanish. Both men were aged under thirty-one but they had been passed by a medical board as C1 i.e. only for garrison duty at home. The tribunal asked what the men were paid. It turned out that the manager was paid £3 a week and the clerk £2.2s.6d a week. These were good salaries for a lower middle class clerk. They were on a par with the wages of a skilled worker but much lower than the salary that a middle class professional would expect. What decision did the tribunal come to? Did it (a) grant a total exemption? (b) grant a temporary exemption and if so, for how long? (c) order the men to enlist straightaway? For answer see next page. J-P.Lethbridge THE EMPIRE'S WAR EFFORT 4. New Zealand Immediately following Britain's declaration of war the Dominion offered full support to what was then regarded as the Mother Country and in the opening weeks of the war New Zealand forces took part in the occupation of Germany's Samoa colony. Altogether 117,175 all ranks were attested for service in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), 244 were sent to British units, 3370 are known to have left NZ to join British and Imperial units and 7036 attested and employed on Home Service in NZ. The grand total of 128,525 represented a very high proportion of the adult male population, probably the highest of any dominion. If the number of volunteers and (after 1916) conscripts who had been attested but not proceeded overseas before the end of the war are included, the grand total is increased to 231,429. In peacetime New Zealand men were liable for conscription into the Territorial Force, a purely Home Service organisation. On the outbreak of war the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) was formed from volunteers from the Territorial, each unit providing a sub unit. When that force went to the Middle East in October 1914, it comprised an infantry brigade and a mounted rifle brigade. It was then joined by an Australian brigade and became the ANZAC Division: it fought throughout the Gallipoli campaign, the mounted rifle brigade without horses. Meanwhile a further infantry brigade and a mounted rifle brigade were formed, the former replaced the Australian brigade in ANZAC Division which then became the New Zealand Division. It served with distinction in France for the remainder of the war. The fresh mounted rifle brigade served in a mounted infantry role in Palestine. The NZ Division established its base in the UK which included a staging camp in Sutton Park. Thus the NZEF consisted of the NZ Division, a mounted rifle brigade, base and L of C units and various details. Some 98,950 served overseas in the force. It was kept well up to strength despite heavy casualties and at one time the division included four brigades instead of the usual three and at the end of the war was the strongest British division in France. To achieve this conscription by ballot for overseas service had been introduced in 1916. The NZEF suffered a total of 58,501 casualties (died of all causes, wounded, missing and taken prisoner) and a further 232 died in the UK and not in the NZEF. Answer to The Indispensables: The answer is (c). The appeal was rejected though as usual a month's notice was given to enable the men to deal with their private affairs and or the company to replace them. To quote the Birmingham Post Sir Michael Lakin the chairman of the tribunal "expressed the view that the salaries paid scarcely supported the contention that the men were indispensable'. Although the men were only fit for Home Service they would free able bodied men for service in the front line.
|
|
The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA Compiled by Bob Butcher |
|
|