THE SECOND DIVISION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 37, 7 November 1917, Page 8

THE SECOND DIVISION

ANOTHER BALLOT IN THREE WEEKS

THE MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS

The next ballot under the Military Service Act will be taken three weeks hence, and it is likely that tho number of men to be drawn from Class A or the .Second Division will bo the same as in the last ballot, that is, 5000. Four weeks later tho men remaining in Class A. will be called up en bloc for medical examination, since they will not number muchi more than the required 5000. The married men will be supplemented each month "by youths who havo just reached military age, by nineteen-year-old volunteers, and bv stragglers from the First Division, including men whose appeals at present stand adjourned sine die by the military service boards. The proportion of fit men to bo secured from Class A and the other classes of the Second Division remains to be revealed by the medical examinations. Tho' indications are that the proportion will be high. It is noticeable that the number of "starred" men in the first draft of Class A men is small. This means that tho class has not been enlisting fieely under the voluntary system, and so has not been drained of any largo number of its fit men in advance of tho ballot. Tho proportion of exemptions to be allowed among the married men is another question. Probably it will be higher than among the single men, owing to the larger business responsibly ties of the married men as a group. The recruiting authorities are arranging that the medical examination of Second Division recruits shall be condueled with a minimum of delay in all case/!. Volunteers will havo preference before the Medical Boards, but tho balloted men will be called' up in comparatively small bodies in order that they may be handled promptly. _ Officers commanding districts have been instructed to give the widest publicity to tho Itineraries of the medical boards, in order that recruits away from tho con-, tres may know when to present themselves for attestation and medical examination.

It. happens often that recruits, when appearing before the military medical boards' for examination, wish to bring forward some information given them by their own doctors or some medical evidence regarding their physical condition. Recruits must bring medical certificates with them if they wish to be heard in matters of this kind. Verbal statements are not sufficient, and the men

will not be entitled to re-examination on the mere plea that they failed to place their evidence before the board at the first examination. It has been arranged, as already announced, that Second Division reservists are to have twelve weeks' leave without pay after medical examination before they are taken into camp. This privilege' does not extend to First Division men who may be called up with tho married men. The First Division men in the Twelfth Ballot and subsequent ballots will be treated: in every way similarly to the First Division men ,'in previous ballots. They "will go to camp, unless they appeal, with the first draft leaving their group after fourteen days from the date of their medical examination.' The dental officers attached to district medtS'al boards are to cease duty at the end of this month. The dental examination and treatment of all recruits, voluntary or balloted, is to be undertaken in tho camps.