DISCHARGE OF UNFIT MEN

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 41, 12 November 1919, Page 6

DISCHARGE OF UNFIT MEN

INQUIRIES BY SIR JAMES ALLEN. By Tolcgraph-Pross ABiociation. Dunedin, November 11. At Sir James Allen's wqucst,- a deputation ironi tho Returned Soldiers' Association waited ou him-legurdiiig complaints of treatment at the hands of the travelling Medical Board. Sir James All?n asked for specific cases, but tho deputation said it would prefer to hold tho ■ matter over unti} after a public meeting to-uight. Sir James Alien said, so far as he knew, there had not be;n a single complaint outside Dunedin regarding the travelling Medical Board. This afternoon Sir Janies Allen stated that lie had seen the Officer Commanding the District and the Assistant Director of Medical Services on the question of the discharge of unfit men. -The former stated that lie- had asked the Returned Soldiers' Association. for specific instances of men considered unfit discharge, but no reply find been received. He took stops to ascertain from other sources specific cases, but only ono soldier had reported. By other means eight more names had been secured. Some of these cases apparently deserved reconsideration, and, if necessary, die would ask for a suspension of discharges pending inquiry by the Director-General of Medical Services, but as the men had 2S days' leave before discharge the DirectorGeneral of Medical Services would come to Dunedin and inquire. The refusal of tire Returned Soldiers' Association to supply specific cases, except in one instance, placed the Department and the Minister at a disadvantage. -The disciliafgo alluded to was a discharge from the forces, and not from a hospital or medical treatment. If a soldier .stii] required medical treatment, he would get this whether he belonged to tho forces or not. . Sir James Allen has been advised by telegram that the Director-General has given instructions for certain decisions' of the board to be revised.

PROTEST AGAINST ACTION OF MEDICAL BOARD. Br Tclcera oh—Press Association. Dunedin, November 11. At a public meeting to-night, convened by the Returned v Soldiers' Association, a motion was earned emphatically protesting against the action of the travelling Medical Board in discharging men ,<lill undergoing medical treatment. The meeting demanded that the Prime Minister take action to reinstate under (he Defence Department all men diselnrged who ore not physically fit to return to their former occupations or enter on training to fit them for a new vocation suitable to their disabilities, and I hat in future, when men were examined for disehargo by the travelling Medical Board, the evidence of the medical officer attending the cases be taken before a decision is arrived at.