TERRITORIAL FORCES

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1929, Page 7

TERRITORIAL FORCES

ELIMINATING THE UNFIT

WELLINGTON, August 14

The Defence Department last year imposed additional tests on recruits ,to the territorial units in order to bring the strength within the establishment. The result is shown in a decrease of 3599 in the number of territorials,, this year the total strength, including officers, being 17,592. All territorials and cadets who became eligible by age for posting to the territorial force in June, 1928, were graded into categories according to their physical development, and the selection of the numbers required to bring units up to establishment, but not beyond it was made from those of the highest physical standard:

“This necessarily resulted,” - states the Defence Department’s annual report, “in a large proportion of rejections than usual, and certain newspapers and sections of the public erroneously concluded that the abnormal number of rejections was an indication that the physique of our youths was falling off, and that training in the cadets was not having the beneficial effect claimed for it by supporters of compulsory military training. It is therefore desired to emphasise the fact that classification according to age, weight, height and chest measurement and selection ot the best physically developed youths was an innovation'prompted by the necessity of reducing by the most economical and fairest method the number for training in the territorial force.

“It may be suggested that those who were not up to the physical; standard should, in the interest of the country generally, be given a course of physical training, but this would mean extra expenditure and the Defence vote cannot bear the burden. The policy is, therefore, to select for the territorial force the best material available (subject to their living within three miles of a drill centre), in order that the money available for tlie purpose may be expended on the training of those who, in the event of New Zealand being called upon to defend itself against attack, would be the first line of defence.”

Details in the report show that 11,636 cadets were available for posting to the territorials, and 4410 were placed on the non-effective list as being outside drill radius. Medically unfit and those who failed to reach the physical standard, totalled 1820, or 25.41 per cent of the total number examined, 7162. The physical standard for our terriorial force is .equal to that required of the British regular army, although the medical examination is not such a searching one. The percentage of rejections .for the British regular army in 1926 was 34 per cent. For our young men of eighteen years, who •have still a few years to develop, it is not considered' that the percentage of rejections, in view of the high standard set, is such as to cause concern.