FIRST DIVISION REJECTS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3172, 24 August 1917, Page 6

FIRST DIVISION REJECTS

ARRANGEMENTS FOR MEDICAL RE-EXAMINATION SPECIAL TRAINING CAMP An important statement was issued yesterday regarding the medical re-cxani- ] nation of First Division rejects, and the measures being adopted for training those who are accepted.' It has been decided to established a preparatory training camp at Featherston for the men accepted, and, as they are passed fit, to pass them into the reinforcement drafts for active service abroad.' The medical reexamination,will bo commenced in the Auckland district on September 3, and, as the work there is completed, the other military districts will be taken in rotation, working down uiroughout the country. ' 'JJIio official statement issued is as follows :—

"Of the total number of men called in the first nine ballots- (being 49,586), 20,608 were found unlit, and the very great majority of these men were classified C 2, a relatively email number being classified Cl and D.

'A man classified Cl is a man likely to become fit for active service after special training. "A man classified C 2 is a maniound unfit for active servico beyond the Eeas, but fit for service of some nature in New Zealand. t

"A man classified D is a man utterly unfit for nny service. "It has always been intended that men found unfit should be re-examined, and Cuat those who in the meantime have become fit for service, or who could be made fit for service, should be utilised.

•I'or this object a special medical board will be set up for the purpose of re-examination, and a subdivision of Featherston Camp will be established as atraining ground for those men which uio board may classify as likely to become fit for service after special training.

"Tor some considerable time past selected medical officers have, been engaged in going through the papers of unfit men, and havo separated the men whose papers disclosed disabilities obviously unfitting them for general service, from those whose disabilities Jo not necessarily unfit them for service, and who are. worthy of re-examination. The latter class of men will be called, up for re-examination by the board beforemonUoned, which will be known as tho -'C 2 Ee-exaniination Board,' and which will consist of certain medical officers selected by the Director-General of Medical Services.

"Attached to the board will be a combatant officer as a Military Approving Officer, who will, in addition to taking "some administrative duties, advise the board whether certain men suffering from minor disabilities, such as the loss of a finger or fingers, should or should not bo accepted for military purposes. In tho past the boards have often experienced difficulty in not possessing ?ufficient technical knowledge to determine whether certain minos disabilities did or did not disqualify a man for service. The officer who will be appointed to this position is an" officer who has served at tho front, has earned distinctions In the field, and has had actual experienco in England of' the work which he will now be called upon to undertake. "All men called up for re-examination by this board will be called up by the Director of Recruiting, and it is intended that the board |shonld not be employed for any other purpose than reexamination of the men who have hitherto been classed unfit.

"It is intended that all men who will ultimately reach the special camp should pass through the hands of the new board for re-examination so that there will be one standard set, upon which men will be classed fit to enter the special camp, or rejected as unfit for tho purpose.

■ "The camp will not bo a new one, but will be a subdivision of the existing camp at 'Featherston, although -the subdivision will contain only the men who are to undergo the special training, and will be handled by a special staff.

"It should be clearly understood that the object of this camp is to make men fit to be trained for active service who now are not sufficiently fit for that purpose, and it is believed that much can bo done in'this direction.

"There aro two classes of men who will enter this camp, namely, those men tho board have already classified CI, and who have not been called up, and those tho new board will select for training with a view to fitting them for active service.

"Men called up for examination by the new board will be, almost without exception, C 2 men, and the board's action in selecting them for training in tho special camp will be tantamount tc their reclassification as CI. All mer therefore who go iuto the special camj viil be men who, after special training xo likely to becomo fit for active ser ice. The camp will be known as th "Jl Training Camp.' / "The training in 'Cl' Training Canrf

fill be devised for the purpose of buik he up the physique of the recruits, anu fill consist of a graduated training or ystein of exercises aimed solely at the xeation of a physically fit man out of a man who when he enters tha camp, is not a physically fit man. "It J8 intended that this training, devised as it is to build up physique, will be under the closest supervision of medical officers, who will have the recruits under their review day by day. "All men sent into this camp will be treated and classed alike. Officers will not enter this.preparatory camp as officers, or n.co's as n.c.o.'s. All will enter on the same footing, arid, as a result of their training will either be advanced in classification to tho A standard (fit for active service beyond .the seas), and drafted to a Reinforcement Camp, ; or be put back to the C 2 classification; and rejected for training for active service. "Tho first draft will arrive, at the special camp on September 26, 1917, and, for a beginning will consist of 500 men. "Orders have just been issued for the concentration «£ the CI men for this camp for the date above named, and orders have also been issued for the 02 K«-examination -Board to commence its re-examination of the C 2 men on September 3, commencing in the Auckland district."