THE USES OF THE REGISTER.
[To TER EDITOR OF TRII " EPRCTATOR..1
Sxn,—It would perhaps be a breach of discretion if those who are now emplCyed in compiling statistics for the National Register were to reveal the results already obtained by them. But there can be no harm in saying that, in rural areas at least, there is a considerable number, perhaps thirty per cent., of adult males still available for military purposes without falling back on men over forty. If, as seems likely, this " war of attrition" is to last until at least the autumn of 1917, we must be prepared to fill up growing gaps—gaps that occur every day, even when there is "nothing particular to report." This is true even if we do not add to our present armed
forces. How long our surplus will continue to supply suffi- cient recruits by volunteering is a question of fact rather than of opinion. The authorities should now know what the surplus population of valid men is. They know, and no one else knows, what the requirements in the way of recruits are. But it is obvious that a time must come when a limit to voluntary recruiting will arrive, since there will always remain a certain number who, though they will not resist compulsion, will not, on the other• hand, volunteer. In the meanwhile, those who believe in volunteering cannot do better than help in the task of securing an adequate flow of volunteers.—I am,
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