RECRUITS FOR ARMY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 219, 16 August 1937, Page 8

RECRUITS FOR ARMY

PROGRESS OF BRITISH PLAN. The first batch of under-nourished Army recruits at the recruits’ physical development depot at Aldershot were reported recently to bo progressing well. There were 31 youths taking tho special course, which lasts up to three months, and newcomers were arriving at the rate of two a day.

The recruits, who enlisted in the regiment of their choice before they were sent to the depot, were from London, the West Country,' Northern Ireland, Northumberland, the Potteries and Wales. They all had some physical defect which the hygiene specialist, Captain P. J. L. Capon, of the R.A.M.C., was confident lie could remedy. All of them were under weight, some as much as .a stone. A number were below the regulation height, but a wholesome diet was working wonders. Each day’s programme is varied and made as interesting as possible, with physical training and military and general education prominent in tho curriculum. There are two short breaks every morning, one at 7 o’clock, when tho recruits receive tea, biscuits and barley sugar, and another four hours later for a glass of new milk and either a banana or an orange. “They arc never late for meals, the commandant, Major Procter, said. “It is the first time most of them have had regular food, and they tuck in so generously at dinner time that we have to allow them an extra half-hour to rest after it. The change in the recruits is really astonishing. Even after a day or two they begin to have a much brighter look about them, their skins become clearer, and most of them begin to put on weight. “All of them arc exceptionally keen to become fit, and I am hoping that when the time comes for them to go to their regimental depots they will pass through there quicker than the recruit who has not taken this course. I am sure that the scheme, once it is better known, will be a great success.” While the Army is getting them fat the men receive recruit’s pay of 2s a day.