THE BALLOT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2955, 19 December 1916, Page 5

THE BALLOT

RESERVISTS WHO DID NOT REPORT.. ■ Notices have been dispatched, to ifca sixty-three conipulsory recruits who failed to present themselves last week for medical examination in Group 5 (Wellington City and Suburbs). The men have been directed to report ab tho Buckle Street Barracks at 10 a.m. : on Thursday next, arid have been notified that non-compliance, with this order will render them liable to arrest forth-, with. The men concerned are already des£rter6 under military law, bub another opportunity of presenting themselves is being allowed them. The reservists who were' selected in. the second ballot may send appeals to the Commandant of the Forces during the present week. There is some reason to believe that the proportion of appeals will be smaller than in the case of the first ballot, owing to the fact that the publicity given to the' proceedings of tho Military Service Boards has convinced many of the'men. that they would not be able to establish claims to exemption. _ Some reservists of the First Division appeared to have an impression at first that they could secure exemption or at least suspension by proving that their enlistment would involve them in loss or; inconvenience. The Act, however, makes provision only for cases of ''undue hardship," and the tendency of the hoards has been to place a fairb; severe interpretation •on this term.Compulsory enlistment, like volunteering, involves a certain amount of personal sacrifice in almost every case. Reports from various districts regarding the work of the Medical Boards in dealing with the balloted men, show ihat the proportion of recruits passed, as fit for active service varies remarkably. On a "good day" a board.may; be able to accept more than half of the men brought before it for examination.} on a "bad day" the proportion may ; fall below one-quarter. The Canterbury Medical Board examined sixtytwo men at. Christchurch one day lasiJ week, and classified them as follows:—* Fit for active service, 14; fit for ac* tivo service after treatment, 2; possibly fit after operation and recovery, at home, 8; permanently unfit for'ac-< tivo service, 38. The proportion of fib men in this case was unusually low. If it represented an average, the fiti men of the First Division in the. Christchurch Group would be exhausted in six months. .

A few volunteers for the Twentyfourth Reinforcements hare gone into camp during the last week. The mobilisation of the December draft, was postponed until the beginning of January, but this arrangement proved inconvenient to some men who had left their employment, and were anxious to get into oamp quickly. The Group officers there were instructed to., send: send such men forward in special cases* The first large batch of compulsorily-en-lieted men will enter camp with the Twenty-fourth Reinforcements,-but as .has been explained already, the men will not he distinguished from the volunteers in any way. Some of the men enlisted under Clause 35 of- the Military. Service Act are already in training- ■