In response to these embarrassing recruitment shortfalls, some New South Wales residents launched a series of 'snowball' recruiting marches, which were intended to encourage men to enlist through the marchers' example. The first march was a locally based initiative led by the captain of the local Rifle Club in October 1915; eight other marches were known to have taken place over the next four months. Military authorities were initially ambivalent about the marches; they were not certain whether or not the men should march with rifles, when their pay would start, and who would clothe or feed them. Along the route however, local communities fed and housed the men, and the marches gained tremendous publicity. About 1,500 men marched in total, and they are credited by some sources with persuading anywhere from two to three times that number to enlist as a result.