FORCED IN THE RANKS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 185, 22 July 1911, Page 11

FORCED IN THE RANKS

UNDER THE DOCTOR’S EYES. THE ORDEAL AT THE DRILL HALL. (By an Unwilling Recruit.) The Defence Act. which we owe to Sir Joseph Ward. Bart., and others, is now being brought into operations. Slowly but surely, the true nature of tlie “scheme” is becoming apparent. It is compulsion from beginning to end. The preliminary registration has been effected, and the medical examination of our future territorials is now in full swing. During the three nights that it has been carried out, about 150 youths have been examined. The youths appear at the Drill Hall and fill in their Sparf Time Dancing, and listening to what is apparently meant to be melodious music from a brass band. After waiting for an hour or two your turn comes. You, with three or four others, step into the examination room, and wonder what is going to happen. There is Sergeant Major Steele, and another officer writing at a table, and Doctors Leahy and Bernean (in pretty uniforms) examining chaps in Various Stages of Nudity. A book is given to you on entering, and after signing your name, your weight and height are taken and entered in it. You strip, and at last your turn comes. You come before Dr. Leahy. He examines your features keenly, and just as you are beginning To feel uncomfortable

he announces “steel blue eyes,” “light brown hair.” These facts are taken down by the young man at the table. “Open your mouth wide.” You do so. The doctor peers inside a deep cavity, inserts two fingers, and again announces “No teeth out, four unsound,” and in an undertone you hear him say “quite enough, too.” The tape is now applied to your chest. You breathe out, and the doctor says “35 inches, take a full breath, 37 inches.” His Stethoscope is now Applied to your chest. You breathe, hard, you say “99,” and have the satisfaction of knowing your heart and lungs are normal. The girth of your waist is taken and entered as 24 inches. The doctor’s watch is now requisitioned, and your hearing is declared normal ; you look at a card with letters on, and you think of the time you were in the “babies,” and laboriously tried to learn your A.B.C. The result is normal. Different coloured wools are put before you, and you are pleased to find you are not colourblind. Your Legs and ether Parts

of your anatomy are now carefully, examined, and you have successfully “got through.” Out of the 150 men who have been examined only 11 have been rejected, four on the first night, four on the second, and three last night. Of this number several Have been Rejected on account of lacking fingers, having a leg shorter than the other, etc. One or two have been held over for a .year on account of rupture, etc. The doctors who conduct this examination do so in A Gentlemanly Manner, and its terrors are greatly exaggerated. The youths who have been examined so far, according to the doctors. Are a Fine Stamp of New' Zealanders. The deplorable state of the teeth, however, is about the most serious defect. A book is to be posted to Each Compelled Man,

and in it various particulars are noted. The training which they are compelled to undergo, the arms and accoutrements issued, the clothing issued, etc., are all to be carefully noted. When the enrolment into the territorial force takes place, an oath, a copy of which is contained in this book, must be taken. It seems a very curious thing for an unwilling and Compelled Man to Swear to obey his officers and to f aithfully serve according to his liability under the Defence Act. It appears that the number of men who are assisting in the medical examination -was not sufficient. For this reason the time devoted to each youth was much longer than would otherwise have been the case. Another batch of 80 came up last night for medical examination.