Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1943. HOME GUARD STANDARDS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 April 1943, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1943. HOME GUARD STANDARDS.

JT would be interesting to know whether ascertained standards of physical fitness are regarded by the military authorities as a necessary qualification for enrolment in the Home Guard and if not on what grounds failure to enforce these standards is considered to be justified. Of two inquests held in. Chiistchurch recently on members of the Home Guard who died suddenly, one at least suggests that little if any consideration can have been given to standards of physical fitness.

One of the deaths in question was that of a Home Guardsman, aged 43, who collapsed as the result of an affection of the heart. The medical evidence was that the case was an unusual one, in which there had not been, in life, any noticeable symptoms of heart trouble. Whether the Guardsman would have been able to pass a reasonably searching medical examination does not appear to have been stated.

The other case was that of a Home Guardsman aged G 9 who collapsed and died from heart failure associated with disease of the coronary arteries. Asked by the Coroner (Mr E. C. Levvey) whether the age question entered into the training of memb.eis of the Home Guard, a staff-sergeant who was giving evidence stated that all the men were selected by Army Headquarters. To a further question by the Coroner: “Does the medical aspect not enter into it?” the staff-sergeant replied: “I don t think so.”

On the face of it, the state of affairs here indicated calls for investigation and amendment. The only reason for organising and training the Home Guard is that it conceivably may be called upon as a fighting force in rigorous conditions, involving no ordinary strain on stamina and staying power. as they are in themselves to be admired, courage, the spirit.of service and even veteran capability are not enough to justify the enrolment of men in the Home Guard. There is need also of a degree of physical strength and fitness and whether this is possessed or not evidently should be determined in the first instance by medical examination.