THE MILITARY AGE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3095, 28 May 1917, Page 5

THE MILITARY AGE

QUESTION OF A 'SEDUCTION.

A statement made by the Minister for Defence (Sir James Allen) at Dunedin to ,the effect, that the British military authorities are not sending men over- 41 years of age to the ! front, is being interpreted as an indication that the.military «£e in this country may be lowered. Expert opinion in Wellington' does not appear to favour the change. It is pointed out that to reduce the .military • age from forty-five to forty-four would scarcely be worth while from tho point of view of. practical results, and that in any case the conditions here and in the United Kingdom are not the samo. The average of fitness among the men of forty.five.in New Zealand, and also in the other Dominions, is higher than among the men of the same age in the United Kingdom.

The maximum age for compulsory recruits in the Unikd Kingdom is forty-one years, and the adoption of this standard in New Zealand would affect many thousands of men.. ■ Incidentally it would hasten the conscription of married men T>y reducing the number of men left in tho First Division. But it is not certain yet that the British authorities will not raise the age, if the war continues and the demand for additional recruits becomes acute. The records of the' New Zealand Defence Department are understood to indicate that tho..pereentage of discharges from camp in the case of men over forty years of- age is substantially higher than" among the younger recruits. But on the other hand, very many of the older recruits are fit for anything, and experience in the camps and at the front has not shown any strong Tcason for ruling out all men who ha'ye; completed. their fourth decade,