AGE OF FIRST DIVISION

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1692, 29 March 1917, Page 2

AGE OF FIRST DIVISION

THE Christchurch Evening News has the following; —There is something to he said in favour of the resolution passed by a North Island County Council, expressing, the opinion that all single men up to fifty years of age should Ire called up before any ballot is taken of the men in the Second Division. The present age limit is 40, and the dif-

ferenee between that age and fifty in a man who is fit and strong is ot ,? - teu not great. A man is then on the “level going” —the tableland of years—before he comes to where the downward slope begins; be has ceased to grow, except possibly in girth, for which a course of training would be an admirable cure, and he is probably, though, of course, not necessarily, in circumstances which make it easier for him to drop business tor a time than it is for a young man, while, in most

cases, his responsibilities are fewer than in his younger days. Here in New Zealand the man of 4(1-50 is not nearly so often spoken of as “getting old” as is the case at Home; he is here less “set,” and is more athletic and juvenile than the average Englishman of the same age. It must also be remembered that the man in the prime of life is harder and more able to withstand the strain of trench life than the immature man. This has often been proved in Era nee. There are those with experience at the front who claim that the age of 20, at which New Zealand enlists her soldiers, is too young. However that may be, the charge that a man is “100 old at 50” would not lie in the case of many New Zealanders, and though it has been reported that no man of more than 45 will be sent out of England to the front, circumstances may make it necessary to modify Ibis restriction. Probably if the North Island suggestion were ad-

opted, it would he a good thing' to dm ft the older men into separate eompiinies. The Trenllnun (mining is now fairly strenuous, and some of it demands agility whieh can hardly he experted after the age of 30 or 35. But the older men could push a bayonet just as hard and as far into a German as the younger ones. The men of the Second Division, particularly those with young families and businesses that need nursing, should certainly not go into (he ballot until all the, available single manhood of the Dominion has been called up. The (pieslion of extending (he age of the First Division is worthy the consideration of the Government, particularly in view of the fact that the recent lightening-up of the medical examination will mean that fewer men are passed, and that this will reduce the time that will elapse before it is necessary to call up the Second Division.