THE RESERVISTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1916, Page 4

THE RESERVISTS.

APPEALS LIKELY TO BF LESS. Wellington, December JB. The, reservists who were selected ill the second ballot may send appeals to the Commandant of the Forces during the present week. There is some reason to believe that the -proportion of appeals will be, smnller than in the case of tho first ballot, owing to the fact that the publicity given to the proceedings of the Military Service Boards had convinced many of the men that th»y would not be able to establish claims to exemption. Some reservists of the First Division appeared to have an impression that they could secure exemption or at least suspension by .proving that their enlistment would involve them in loss, or inconvenience. The Act, however, makes provision only for eases oi'V'undue" hardship," and the tendency of the boards has been to place a fairly severe interpretation oil this term. Compulsory enlistment, like volunteering, involves a certain amount of personal sacrifice in almost every case. Reports from various districts regarding the work of the medical boards, in dealing with the ballotted men, show that the proportion of recruits passed as fit for active VWi« remarkably. On a ''good day" a board may be ablo to accept more than half of the men brought before it for .examination; on a "bad day" the proportion may fall below one quarter. The Canterbury Medical Board examined 02 men at Christchiireh one day last week and classified them as folows:-*-Fit for active service. 1-!; fit for active service after treatment, 2; possibly fit after operation and recovery at home, 8; permanently unfit for active i service l 38. The proportion of fit men in this ease was unusually low. If it represented an average, the fit,men of the First Division in the Ohristchurcli group would be exhausted in six months. A few volunteers for the.'24th Reinforcements have gone into camp during the last week. The mobilisation o! the December draft was postponed until tiie beginning of January, but this arrangement proved inconvenient to some men who had left their employment and were anxious to get into camp quickly. 'Die group officers, therefore, were instructed to send such men forward in special cases. The first large batch of compulsorily enlisted men Trill enter camp with the 2lith Reinforcements, but, as ,has l been explained already, the men'will not be distinguished from the volunteers in any way. Some of the men enlisted under clause 35 of the Military Service Act are aU ready in training.