"MEDICALLY UNFIT."

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 208, 31 August 1916, Page 7

"MEDICALLY UNFIT."

REJECTIONS IN CAMP. CASE OF THE TWENTIETHS. No fewer than SI men who went to f-eatherston with the Twentieth Reinforcements were rejected on medical grounds at the preliminary examination in the camp. All these men had been passed as lit for service at the time of I their enlistment in their own districts, and some of them had made substantial sacrifices, and travelled long distances, only to find that they could not be allowed tq wear tho uniform. No previous draft had suffered so severely in this respect, and General Henderson, Director of Medical Services, told a "Dominion" reporter that he was making inquiries with the object of ascertaining if any special reason existed for the large number of rejections. Ho fully realised, he said, that real hardship might occur in .the cases of men who were rejected as unfit after their arrival in camp, despite the fact that they had been passed by medical officers in their own districts. He had asked for a report on the subject, and, if necessary, he would constitute a board of inquiry. The men rejected in this way, it may be mentioned, arc not stranded in Wellington. They are returned to their own districts at the cost of the Defence Department. The rejection of so many men by the eanrp medical staff suggests (says the paper) that district medical officere may have been tempted to relax their requirements owing to tbe shortage of recruits. There appears to be little doubt that the proportion of medically unfit men among those volunteering for service in increasing, as would be expected in view of the very heavy drain already made upon the manhood of the community. But thero is nothing in the Wellington figures, at any rate, to show that tbe local examiners are lax. Of 66 men registered in Wellington within the last few days, 38 nave been passed by the doctors, so that over 42 per cent, were rejected as unfit. This would lie regarded as a high percentage of rejections in any country. The men set down as "unfit" include many who could be made available for service by medical treatment.