THE AGE LIMIT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3096, 29 May 1917, Page 6

THE AGE LIMIT

FOE MILITARY SERVICE. Sir, —'lhere hare beeu many letters ire. the daily Press recently agitatiug against a vital error in tho framing of the regulations under tho Military Service Act—r i.e., the uge limit. It is, indeed, a pityr that the matter has not been'taken upi before, for results have been disastrous.' I myself raised the question when the Act was being considered. "Up to 46" i 3 ;i mistaken idea altogether—the authorities in England were wise enough to iiS •H as the limit for English conscripts* Men of over 41, as a body, although nuito all right for civil life, are not equal to> the strain of camp life, let alone activeS service at the front. . ' ;

Now that numbers of men between lfl» and ■Iβ have broken down under CMH# conditions and liavo had to be rejected, it is high time that something ivas don& to rectify such a serious state of affairs— so Tiiinous to the men's careers and .stf utterly wasteful to the country. ; As regards these men themselrss, byf the fimu a man has reached this age, he has inimost cases obtained some degree of certainty as to position,' howerei; humble, or however well-off he may beThat being so, it is grossly unfair that: his livelihood should be unnocessarilyr ruined, by his being forced into camp,, only to be subsequently rejected after ai. month or two (probably ill), to begini Hie afresh. . " At the moment there is some tallc oS amending the" age clause —I trust it will be amended, and quickly too.—l am, etc.. THIRTY-EIGHT. •