N.Z. RECRUITS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2466, 20 May 1915, Page 3

N.Z. RECRUITS

A DOCTOR'S VERDICT

SAYS THEY ARE MAGNIFICENT

OFTEN REJECTS GOOD MEN

"The New Zealand reoruit is magnificent 1 : that is tho verdict of a doctor who has examined hundreds of the men who have heeded the call to arms. lu an interview last evening the doctor said that he had had to refuse certificates of fitness for soldiering to a remarkably small proportion of the men had been sent to him for exammation. The New Zealand recruit, he said, is not by any means a weakling or a man defective in the ordinarv sense. On the contrary, he is a verv fine, useful stamp of man, and very free, from ailments. Of the small proportion of men rejected, tho majority have really very little the matter with them, and they would in all probability go through life without feeling anv inconvenience from the small defects which debar thoni from serving their country. The most , common causes of rejection are varicose veins, flat feet, and such-liko troubles. Some of the men with varicose veins, says the doctor, probably hardly know they have them, and they say the.y never feel any inconvenience from them. That is, no doubt, true, but the men have never done their sixteen and eighteen miles hard marches, or roughed it as they might liave to do on active service. Ihoce marches find a man out, and these defects would make the recruit who had them a sick man. Teeth stick up a good many men temporarily, but only temporarily, for the dentists rectify those defects. For that matter most of the other defects mentioned can also be remedied. As to eye-sight., some small number have failed on that score, but the doctor says that the sight test is so wonderfully easy that a man who fails at the barrier must have unusually bad sight. The test amounts to this: Any- ?' 16 .w !° decipher letters two inches high at a distance of 16611I 6611 t ,P?, 3Ses examination. It does rot follow that a man who wears spectacles will be failed. He lias to undergo the test with .his glasses f'hl lhZ" + sl £ ma y wear fhem it he chooses to, Seveu out of ten test wear passes pass the sight Out of all the men the dootor has put through, only, two hadanything the matter with their heart. Lung trouble naie not been discovered m the reciuits.

. men ivho are called rojects are in almost all cases men of a particularly fine stamp, men who really have nothing the matter with thorn, but who might crack up before other men undfir a severe strain, such as active service would impose on them. "Ninety per cent, of the rejects would get a firstclass hie, ii they went for a life insurance policy. Yet they could not be accepted for military purposes. Fht ieet would not affcct them for insurance. Varicose veins would very rarely affect them for insurance, but it absolutely bars them from military service Then, sight hardly affects them at ali when they are insuring, but we must only accept men who can pass our test. Iho medical examination bars practically no one; it is these defects tnat reject them."

Some of the men whom the doctor, is obliged to reject plead very persistently il iil a ''° WflC ' 110 P as s, assuring him that they have never had any difficulty in performing their nuimml work, andean stand severe 1 treatment with any man. Still their keenness avails them nothing, unless they get the defects put right, and that is usually possible. Some men are so anxious to go to the front that they endeavour io conceal the fact that they have only one cood eye.

However, it is not very difficult for sound men to got through, for height and size do not har manv. The height minimum is 6ft. 4in., and the chest nreasurenient is an expansion of 35 inches.