First World War census and conscription
About 120,000 New Zealanders enlisted during the First World War, of whom 103,000 served overseas. When the war broke out in 1914 men flocked in their thousands to answer the call to arms. By the end of the first week of the war 14,000 had enlisted.
Despite confident claims that it would be 'over by Christmas', by 1916 the war appeared no closer to a conclusion. The seemingly endless toll in lives and maimed men began to impact on public sentiment. As the Census and Statistics Office was tasked with the compilation of manpower registers, newspaper editorials urged the public to accept the necessity of greater sacrifices if the war was to be won. Intensive campaigns to encourage enlistment failed to meet their targets, with only 30 percent of men eligible for military service volunteering.
In 1916 conscription for military service was introduced to maintain New Zealand's supply of reinforcements. Only four MPs opposed its introduction. The Military Service Act 1916 initially imposed conscription on Pakeha only, but this was extended to Maori in June 1917. More than 30,000 conscripts had joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force by the end of the war.
Credit:
Alexander Turnbull Library,
Reference:Eph-D-WAR-WI-1915-01,
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any reuse of this image.
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TwitterMy grandfather’s war experience illustrates this.
An enthusiastic 21 year old, he volunteered, and was part of the Samoa Expeditionary Force.
He returned to civilian life, married and was pursuing his career in insurance, when he heard the news that his elder brother William had died of wounds on the Somme.
Did his changing life circumstances or the tragedy of his brother affect his feelings towards war? We can’t know, he died in 1951, but it took for him to be selected in a conscription ballot for him to return to uniform in 1918.
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