THE MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2941, 29 November 1916, Page 4

THE MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS

Sir,—There seems to be a delightful vagueness as to the date when tho Medical Boards will, begin to examino those called up by_ the ballot. I, for my part, havo no intention of exercising my right of appeal, but if I am passed by tho Medical Board I should like to pay a short visit to somo of my numerous relations before entering camp, and as I presume we _ will bo required to go into camp with tho draft on December 12, there is very little time left. I do not desiro to make arrangements beforo I havo been examined, since I have been rejected twice previously, hut as the standard has been somewhat lowered, I may be accepted now. I think tho Medical Boards would do well to start examining immediately thoso who signify their intention not te appeal, and even should I they examine some who, havo appealed [thoy -rejecting' somo of these, ease te no little extent tho work of the Appeal Boards, which is likely te be gigantic.—l am, ete., BALLOTEE. [Reservists will bo notified when and where to present themselves for medical examination. Tho headquarters of the Wellington District Medical Board aro at Palmerston North, but tho board intends to visit Wellington City. _ A reservist who is found on examination to bo fit for service will bo allowed at least a fortnight te arrango his private affairs beforo.he enters camp.] TRAVELLING EXPENSES OF RESERYISTS Sir,—Will you pleaso inform mo through tho columns of your valuable paper if tho Government is making any provision ro travelling expenses for men who havo been conscripted. In my own case I have to travel fifty miles by coach te be examined. This will cost me fourteen shillings, and in addition I lose two days' wages. This, I think, is most unfair, and tho authorities should at the very least pay coach fare. I am, etc., FAIRPLAY. [Reservists who aro • summoned' for service and required to present themselves for medical examination will havo their travelling expenses paid by tho Defenco Department. They should make application at the time of tho examination.] : SUNDAY OBSERVANCE Sir,—Tho letter in ' Saturday's issue on Sunday legislation expresses opposition by the State, in making laws regarding Sabbath-observance. Tho re-, ligious opinions of an individual are his own sacred property, which ho will havo to answer for, and are by law absolutely free. For tho well-being of tho community a day in seven (rightly or wrongly tho day is appointed) is set aside from labour, so that wo can renew our bodies, and perform our religious duties. To all of us who aro nearly all workers the day of rest or rather the greatest blessing" given us, and must bo guarded. To my mind, and in the opinion of follow--1 workers, ministers of religion aro trying to obtain the upper hand in the regulations to bo observed on the Sabbath, by going back to tho old Scotch law that was in force in making it an offence to whistlo on a Sunday in a public place. The war is bringing very I clearly before us what our duties are in this life, and what we must aim at —a God-fearing, clean life. As tho Bishop of Stepney is reported in your issue: "What wo want is a plain religion, a strong religion— a religion that will not phiy tho fool with us; and what wo cannot play tho fool with—a religion that asks a good deal of a man, and a religion that will keop us together."' Too much dogma was being preached in all , churches from Infallibility, Predestination, and Incomprehensible Thirty-nino _ Articles —now through ministers administering in tho trenches tho dogmatic ramparts of the churches are being broken down and moro fellowship will-be born. Tho clergy have fostered this sectarian spirit. The individual must find out what form he should tako his rest in; the sedentary workers may find reasonable activo exercise; others, like, myself, a mechanic, peaceful rest. Devotional exercise should bo considered a Divine duty at some timo iu the day, and the churches must lead and not drive. To the worker Sunday is tho day of tho family boing together, and if recreation is taken in a reasonable manner, which I contend' is so in the Dominion, then we are building up a nation of clear-eyed and strong men, doing our duties as parents, in bringing up our children to resnect tho Seventh Day in a cheerful and happy manner, instead of looking upon it in a dour and irksome manner. —I am, etc., WANGANUI. Wanganui. P.S. —Dr. Jowctt has quoted a letter from a man at the front, a man of culture and wide intelligence. This man was asked what he thought of the religious trend nmomrst tho men out there. He ronlied: "If you mean Wesleya.nism or Presbyterinnism or Anglicanism or any other 'ism' faring, the answer is: Rotten. _ But .if you mean whether we are laying hold of God— th"n there is something in it. Men will come back nt tho end of the war with an altocinther larger connnption nf thinrcs. I think puritanical ideas will bo abolished, and wo will live a cleaner and happierlife through the simplicity of our religion."—W. THE PRINTED WORD Sir, —Tho Rev. S. F. Hunter pleads for more use of the printed word, and since men and women won't go to church thoy must be reached that way, for if ever the world needed to know about tho Saviour of tho world it is now. I use tho word Saviour in tho senso of a Healer. We aro all filled with a gloomy pessimism, and except those rare souls who really bcliovo that "God's over all, all's well with tho world," wo arc filled with dread and misgivings. Tho writer urges (he owns ho reads tho Book very littlo himself) that the Bible bo read with an open mind, and treated on its great merits. If it wore road instead of being so severely let alone, wo would not bo so small and narrow. In 1870 Professor Huxley wrote to tho "Contemporary Roviow" an article on school boards, in which ho said: "I havo always been strongly in favour of secular education . . . but I must confess I havo been no less seriously perplexed to know by what practical measures tho roli-

gious feeling, which is the essential basis of conduct, was to be kept up . . . without tho uso of tho Bible. Consider that for throo centuries this book lias been woven into tho life of all that is best and noblest in English history . . . that it is written in tho noblest. and purest English, and abounds in exquisito beauties mere literary form; and, finally, that it forbids tho veriest hind who never left his villago to bo ignorant of tho existence of other countries and other civilisations, and of a great past, stretching back to tho furthest limits of tho oldest nations of tho world. By the study of what other book could children be so much humanised and made to feel that eacli figure in that vast historical procession fills, like themselves, but a momentary space in the interval between two eternities; and earns the blessings or the curses of all time, according to its effort to do good and hato evil, even as they also aro earning their payment for their work?"— I am, etc., RTJSTICUS.