LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3138, 17 July 1917, Page 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

RE-EXAMINATION OF FIRST DIVISION JIEN Sir,—ls it. n iuct, can .you 101 l inp, thai, when tho .First Division "homo service" moil are ro-oxamined before iho Second Division is encroached upon, (hat Iho standard of fitness is lo bo considerably reduced, as is rumoured iB to be the case':' If 60, this is iniquitous. On the introduction of conscription into Now Zenland, tho standard of fitness of Iho men was reduced, with tho result that many hundreds of pounds of tho country's money was wasted on sending i.nfit men to camp, mon who afterwards had to bo cast out as not beinf ablo to stand tho strain ol' activo sorvico, and this at a timo when ovary penny counts too. A'o first Division man minds going to camp,,but it is so palpably useless and tinkering with the subject to send unfits thero as was dono beforo .when case after ca'so was reitorted of men (however willing they might be) being discharged after a short period i" camp as totally unlit and not able lo stand up to the very rigorous training required of thein, that it makes :>no wonder what tho GovornmeUt's fjame is. Iliis re-examination of First Division rejected men is a miserablo affair at Iho ue,;t, to say the least about it—for remcin'tw, eomo of thera lmvo bocn turned down, as has tho writer, Bevoral times beforo roing before the Aledicul Board. It was never thought of before; and no olio but possibly Second Division men, who see their turn for service approaching, and way wish to stave off the ovil day. can 6oe_ any call for it. Somo united action is imperatively needed to see that no reduction in tho smallest degree is mode in the standard • of fitness of recruits, who, speakinjf for those in the First Division, have gono through the mill, and wonder after all where the boasted patriotic desire of Second Division men—so often reiterated at tho time—to take up arms in defence of their King and country, when their own turn came, comes in. Their turn has eomo, so why this fuss? Surely, surely, they are not fainthearted now the timo is at hand?

First Division men must havo some consideration. They, as things are, do not know whero they stand with all, this mossing about. Many of them have parents and sisters and brothers to support. Some have been turned down several times, and since then have incurred other, and heavy responsibilities, whilst some have got into double harness. They have been through the mill, their names have, been called in the ballot, they have paraded for medical inspection, and when turned down, find that tho trouble, expense, and worry they have have been put to in attending before ihe Medical Board counts for nothing with tho Government whoso Minister of Dcfenco said long op) that any l<'irst Division man who wished to know—for business reasons, or other..matters—where ho stood, would only havo to go before the said Medical Board, and bo definitely dealt irith. Surely humbug can go no further than this monstrous business—l am, etc., THREE TIMES REJECTED. July 16, 1!)17.

[So far its wo are awaro there is not the slightest ground for. the suggestion that lirst Division men, unfitted to stand tho strain of service, are to bo forced lo servo. The general standard of fitness insisted on hus not been lowered.]