WORTHWHILE IN ANY CASE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 42, 13 November 1941, Page 6

WORTHWHILE IN ANY CASE

The view expressed by a Wellington doctor, and published in our columns yesterday, that “it would create ill-feeling if mairied men were called up before the possibilities of making single ni^n— - already balloted—fit, had been exploited to the utmost, will be widely endorsed Even if there were no such compelling cause as the piosecution of the war the State could not accept complacently the fact that no fewer than 53,000 men who bad been examined were medically unfit. . , , .. The first thing to be done is to ascertain how many of the men who have been “turned down” for physical reasons could, after leceiving expert attention, be made fit for service. If the proportion weie only one in four there would be added to the list o£ recruits a number approximately equal to the strength of a division, and that wou ensure the provision of reinforcements for a considerable time. le country and the men themselves, would stand to gain by being added to the ranks of the physically fit. And if the medical officeis making the inspection did so with a view to the records being prepared oi a close study much light might be thrown on the reasons why so i™ n y young men had failed to come up to the military, standard, vvith that information as a guide it should then be possible to take steps to effect al l,.improvement in the younger generation.