MINOR DEFECTS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 July 1916, Page 3

MINOR DEFECTS.

NO.BAR TO SERVICE.

REG ELATION EXPLAINED,

An assurance that men suffering from only slight physical disabilities may bo accepted for active service has been received by the Auckland Recruiting Committee from General R. S. F. Henderson, Director-General of Medical Services. After some correspondence with the. Minister for Defence regarding the regulation that men , requiring surgical treatment should be deferred until six months after the operation, ■ the committee wrote to General Henderson, drawing his attention to the detrimental,effect on recruiting that would i result from the strict enforcement of the regialion. i - ■

The Chairman of the Committee, Mr. J. 11. Gun son, stated the other, day that a reply had been received from General Henderson explaining that men with alighT varicocele or varicose veins are always to be,passedw'thout operation, as experience has shown that such men are able to undergo the strain -'of active service much better than men who have been operated on. Regarding men suffering from severe forma of those disabilities necessitating onerationa. General Henderson states that many years of experience has sat, isfied the War Office that such men are not fit for training until at least six months after the operation. The experience afforded in thev New Zealand training camps has led to a similar conclusion.