REJECTED RECRUITS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2625, 22 November 1915, Page 6

REJECTED RECRUITS

PERFECT FITNESS WANTED WHY THEY ARE THROWN OUT FINAL TEST AT TRENTHAM. ■ A statement was made to tho Press on Saturday by Surgeon-General 11. S. F. Henderson, Director of Medical Services, regarding the rejection of recruits as medically unfit at Trentham Camp, after they had . already been passed as fit when they enlisted. General Henderson said that he deplored the fact that men should bo subjected to the inconvenienco of being sent into camp only to be rejected at the camp medical examination. In many cases, however, the men had only themselveii to blame; as he proposed to show. Thoy had experience, for instance, of men previously 'rejected and discharged from camp who had returned as fresl> recruits. They had gone to some other centre, stated that they had had no previous military experience, and. concealing their physical disabilities, had been passed as fit and 6ent on to aiiiip, where they were turned down again. A fair percentage of the rejects in question wero also , men under age and over ago, and when this was discovered in camp such men could not reasonably complain when they wero turned down. Then, again, some men developed illnesses, after having passed tho preliminary medical examination in their own districts, and tlioy, of course, could not be accepted. The development of illnesses was sometimes accentuated by the excitement of going away and the strain of the journey of going into camp which 1 brought out conditions that were previously nonapparent. These factors largely accounted for tho trouble, but there was another they also had to copo with. Many recruits were passed in by medical officers with > the good-intentioned desire to give them a chance, but the experience of the examining officers at Trentham, based as it was on the knowledge they ha-d of what was really required of a man both during his training and at the front, left thom no other choice, than to reject' the great majority of them. In some cases, also, men had been sent ill' who had not been properly examined by any medical office!-. They wero convinced that como of these cases were due to impersonation, in other words, men who had been examined by a doctor had gone in under the names of others who had. One Per Gent. Rejected. As a matter of fact, continued General Henderson, tho percentage of such rejects was very small, amounting to only a little over one j>er cent, of tho wliolo of the men sent in. In estimating this they had to make allowance for tho causes be bad stated, and also for the fact that some of the medical officers —tie examining doctors were scattered throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand—wero without experience, and wero liable to make mistakes. Ho, howavor, desired to eliminate the evil as much as possible, aJid had already taken steps in that direction. They wanted none but fit men. The examining doctors had been so instructed, and had been told that' jmder no consideration were tho standards of oyesight, hearing, aud other necessary requirements to be relaxed. Experience®had'shown that the slightest departure from these tests only resulted in men entering the ranks who were not fit for active service. The present war'had demonstrated this in a marked degree. Many men. had been sent to the front to all appearances fit, yet old disabilities had found them out, and they had been of littlo or no use to the Army, as soldiers. Such being tho case,- medical officers were strictly enjoined not to allow their judgment to be swayed by -personal considerations or any desire to make, up district quotas. Examining medical officers who had been found wilfully relaxing tho regulations had been in some cases suspended, 1 aud in other cases struck off the examining roll altogether. This policy would be rigidly adhered to, aud it was hoped,' in consequonce, to get satisfactory results. Measures had also been taken to prevent impersonation, and ho wanted that fact specially emphasised.

General Henderson concluded by 'saying that ho desired it to be clearly understood that the district examination was purely a preliminary one, and men could not be finally accepted until they passed the test at Trentham. Men, therefore, should Tequest their employers to keep their positions open for them until they were finally passed. Employers by doing so would be. greatly as'sisting'the Department, and he hoped thoy would do so, as it was only the men's due. '