MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF RECRUITS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1475, 20 November 1915, Page 2

MEDICAL EXAMINATION OF RECRUITS.

TrEntham’s strict medical examination of recruits this week has caused the rejection of some

men who had been passed as fit by district doctors, says the Wellington Post. The number of rejects is only a small proportion—about i per cent. —of the men who entered the camp, but it may be within the bounds of practicable policy to still further reduce the number of futile trips to Trentham. In some cases the failure to pass the Trentham test is a severe disappointment. A single man passed by a local doctor, may assume that he has a clear path to the front. If he thinks at all of another overhaul at Trentham, he may regard it as a merely formal inspection. Serenely confident that he is bidding good-bye for a long term to civil life, he may have a sale of property, and, knowing that (he field of war does not overflow with milk and honey, he may gather friends about him and give a quick despatch to much of the proceeds of the sale before he sets out for Trentham. Rejection, after such nn experience, would be enough to convert the merriest optimist into the dourest pessimist. We have no doubt that the military authorities will have a thorough enquiry into this nutter, and that every practicable safeguard will be taken to save an enthusiastic volunteer from having a very unpleasant surprise at camp, alter a long journey. Probably the explanation will be found in a few doctors' mistaken use of certain discretionary latitude, not clearly defined. For months various critics, including leader-writers and correspondents of the press, condemned the alleged “cast-ironness’ ’ of the regulations, and there has been a persistent pressure for a modification. There are said to he cases of men who were rejected by one doctor and passed by another, though the general condition of the body was the same for each examination. The public, especially the men whose thoughts are seriously on enlistment, will be naturally expecting a reassuring statement from the authorities.