MALINGERERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 December 1917, Page 3

MALINGERERS.

iIKDIt'AL UOARD.V KXI'EUIKSCE*. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, Friday Malingerers do nut appear to be plentiful in New Zealand, but. the military medical boards arc not without experience <if them. This experience has been ncfjuirod slowly and .sometimes painfully. The medical officers have had to learn to be suspicious, and if occasionally they appear disinclined to accept a perfectly genuine story of physical weakness or past ill-lii.alth from a recruit, the blame for their incredulity must rest oit Hie shoulders of the other men who have tried to work points. The doctors cannot believe everything they are told, and their knowledge of human nature would have to'be very deep indeed to enable them to separate the true from the false at a glance. There are various grades of malingerer®. The straight-out malingerer l? the man who, though (it for military service, seeks to convince the medical board that he is unfit. He may affect to be deaf, or short-sighted, or loine; or lie may even use a drag to cultivate an appearance of a bad heart, or a weakness of some other organ. Unfortunately there is reason to believe that in some parts of New Zealand malingerers of this type have had expert assistance, presumably in return for payment. Their chance of success nowadays is small, for the medical officers are practised and wary. Hut in the early days of conscription cases of successful fraud occurred. Thp combine over that has boon undertaken during the last few months has brought some decidedly suspicions eases to light, and (he individual? concerned' have gone to camp. Another type of malingerer is the mm who reallv has nothing wrong with liiiti except a general (labbiness, but who is (irmly convinced that he could never '(and the strain of training. | ITe probably takes little excrcis', cats too much, smokes many cigarettes, and works and sleeps in ill-ventilated rooms. He suffers from indigestion, he may have "a heart" and he knows from experience that he cannot run twcnlv yards after a tram without feeling very hlov:n and uncomfortable. This man seldom lias much diflicultv in providing himself with a medical certificate to the effect that his lira'th is not good, and lie arms himself with this document when he goes before the medical board. Many men of (his class had to lie set down as unfit at first. because there was every probal*lity that if they went into one of (lief A camps (hey really would break down under the sudden strain. Hut the CI cinnp does wonders with i.We men. They arc taken in hand gradually. given graduated exercises under wholesome conditions ami turned into (it soldiers. Their pride in the oh-'nso is often as great as their astonishment, Amu-ins' stories are told of lhe attempts made to deceive the medical boards. Tt may seem a simpl" tiling to simulate de.ifne=s. for example. Tbit - 1 - a matter of fact the recruit who pits his wits against experienced medical officers in a t-st is almost certain to be defeated ignoininiously. There was one man who maintained his role thrnuu'ii all (lie u-'"':i! IfH. Tie co:ild rot hear,a word that was said to him unless it was shouted. He appeared to bo so fleaf that his services could not possibly he used in (he Expeditionary Force. The two doctors consulted, and it creed, in low tones, (liar ilie man must be regarded as unfit. They wrote something 011 a paper, and pointed the deaf man to the door. Then, as he turned away, one doctor remarked quietly. "YOll had better take your papers with vou." The recruit turned and reached bis hand for the papers at once. Tt was the final test and be had failed to maintain his imposition. Tl-j was passed fit. The Military Service Act makes provision for the punishment of malingerers, but thp authorities tend to the view that the best treatment for the would-be unfit recruit is thai provided in (he training camps. Clause ,10 of the Act provided that "every person shall be guilty of an indictable offence, punishable by imprisonment with hard labor for any term not exceeding three years, who . . . wilfully deceives or attempts to deceive any medical officer in respect of the medical examination of any member of the Expeditionary Force or of any person offering himself for service with that force, whether such member or person so offering is the accused himself or any 'other person.''