e front. And one cannot
ignore the certainty that our requirements in this respect will be
large, continuous, and persistent; for one feels that our gallant
soldiers in the fighting line are beckoning, with an urgency at once
imperious and pathetic, to those who remain at home to come out and
play their part too. Recruiting meetings, recruiting marches, and the
unwearied labors of the recruiting officers, committees, and
individuals have borne good fruit, and I look forward with confidence
to such labors being continued as energetically as hitherto.

But we must go a step further, so as to attract and attach individuals
who from shyness--(laughter)--or other causes--(renewed
laughter)--have not yet yielded to their own patriotic impulses. The
Government have asked Parliament to pass a Registration Bill, with the
object of ascertaining how many men and women there are in the country
between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five eligible for the national
service, whether in the navy or army, or for the manufacture of
munitions, or to fulfil other necessary services. When this
registration is completed we shall anyhow be able to note the men
between the ages of nineteen and forty not required for munition or
other necessary industrial work and therefore available, if physically
fit, for the fighting line. Steps will be taken to approach, with a
view to enlistment, all possible candidates for the Army--unmarried
men to be preferred before married men, as far as may be. (Loud
cheers.) Of course, the work of completing the registration will
extend over some weeks, and meanwhile it is of vital and paramount
importance that as large a number of men as possible should press
forward to enlist, so that the men's training may be complete when
they are required for the field. I would urge all employers to help
in this matter, by releasing all men qualified for service with the
Colors and replacing them by men of unrecruitable age, or by women, as
has already been found feasible in so many cases.

When the registration becomes operative I feel sure that the
Corporation of the City of London will not be content with its earlier
efforts, intensely valuable as they have been, but will use its great
facilities to set an example of canvassing for the cause. This canvass
should be addressed with stern emphasis to such unpatriotic employers
as, according to returns, have restrained their men from enlisting.

What the numbers required are li