MILITARY SERVICE IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 261, 23 July 1918, Page 6

MILITARY SERVICE IN BRITAIN

THE WORK OF THE TRIBUNALS ■

HOW THE ACT OPERATES l ii < ( Sir Donald Maclean has an important ; articlo in the "Contemporary Review," s in. which lie considers (lie effect of the t latest Military Service Act upon our c most important contribution to the Al- 1 lied cause, viz., our command of the sea 1 and our financial ;ind economic resources, t In tin course of his article Sir Donald ' ] says: "Tho new Act, in its proposal to | ' raise the age.-Iniit to fifty-one. mabs i the careful scrutiny of the military va!_ue I of men over lifry-i-ne, and the necessity ( of maintaining our financial and eeonn- ] niie contribution to the Allied cause of i vital importance," and, speaking from , his pxperenco as cuairman of the London . Appeal Tribunal, which has dealt in i two years with 54,000 cases, including I 11.(100 applications for renewal, he continues:— ' "Fifty-three per cent, of the appeal* ! have been dismissed—in other words, in , more than one-half of the cases the decision of tho local tribunal has been upheld In about ''.0.000 cases exemption was granted t'oi periods of between two and six months, but in alwut. 5000 cases the ox n mption was made not renewable except by leave. Tl e number of open exemptions—that is, cases where full rieht of appl : ?alion for renewal is granted—was further reduced on consideration of applications for renewal. Only 7 Per Cent. •'Excluding certificates granted on the ground of conscientious, objection, there arc onlv about 3000 open certificates of ' tho tribunal at present in force, a large i proportion of these being held by men in j tho lower physical grades. As this total i of 3000 remains prettv constant, we may draw the inference that of the men coming up for exemption to the London ] Appeal Tribunal only about 7 per cent, can expect to remain in civil life for any considerable length of time. As has been , indicated, most of the men in tho higher | medical categories have now gono into ' tho Army. Quite a number of these held important positions in civil life, and, naturally, it has only been possible to withdraw them gradually." ■» "A record was kept, during a recent period of two months, of tho categories and grades of men coming. before the Appeal Tribunal. In that period 2WIO individual cases were decided, of which nearlv Jo per cent, were in Grade 3. In tho majority of cases of men bctwem thirty-nine and forty-one, recent reexaminations have placed t'ne.m in Grado .3. The latest tost was in the week ended April 20 last. Ninety eases of men between thirty-eight and forty-one weie dealt;with. Eight mon only were ii. Grade 1, thirty-nine in Grade 2. and forty-three in Grade 3. Military experience has shown that the proportion of sickness casualties.is two and a half times greater in the case of men between the age of thirty-five and forty than in the ease of men between the age of twenty-seven and thirty-five. "What I)ien are likely lo be the sickness casualties of men,between the ages of forty-one and fifty-one? There is serious 'danger that unless great care is taken (lie greater number of them wiL break down under the strain of subjection to Army conditions in war time, even on home service. Each man will cost .£225 a year, and to this must be added the inevitable cost of permanent pensions. Ido not need to dilate upon the personal tragedies of shattered prospects, broken homes, and physical suffering. "Turning to Ihe disturbance of bnsi-. ness, only those who have had during the past'two years constant experience of the hearing of individual cases can grasp fully the significance of the vitally necessary' work nerformed by men between forty and fifty-one in the essential businesses and social life of the nation. "Tn the course of the debate in the House of Commons the official estimate was that only 7 per cent, in the new category would be likely to be called upon for military service tit's year. Assuming that the present medical =tandnv : l is not loweretl-and surely after the ' scandals of the past we may reckon on ; this-and that a degree of reasonable re--1 gnril is to be na'd to the maintenance of 1 the business of the country, it is difficult \ to see how much move than 3 or i per * cent, can be obtained."

Experience Conserved. Referring to the fact of great import, anco, namelv, "the serious lowering of tho moral of persons responsible for the conduct of business and other vital civilian undertakings of the conntry, and the "dread of "active ignorance vested with almost Autocratic powers," Sir Donald concludes:— , „ "Fortunately, the proposals of the Govorniiient with regard to tribunals, at any rate were considerably mourned by the House of Commons, which still as a whole possesses 'more sense tlinn anybody in it.' The constitution of and regulations for tribunals are happily in the hands of the Local Government Hoard, mid this great State Department has in its previous handling of this difficult ami delicate task shown itself to be worthy of the best traditions of the British Civil Service. It is not anticipated that, although the basis upon which local tribunals were constituted has been altered there will be much change in their personnel, and this will be the case a so with the appellate bodies. Consequently there is everv likelihood that the valuable experience gained during the past two years will be fully utilised, the oa=es' which will now come before tribunals are likely to nresent much greater difficulties even than those of the past. Almost everv case now is a hard case. The responsibility upon tribunals of exercisin" their discretion in the interests of the Armv, civil life, and the individual will tie greater than ever. T earnestly trust that this discretion will, in particular, lie used without fear or favour in what is an important national service—namely, the prevention of the sending of unfit men into the Army."