THE FIT AND THE UNFIT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 18, 23 January 1919, Page 4

THE FIT AND THE UNFIT

BALLOTED MEN ICLASSIFIED.

the numbers ordered to ■ DAMP.

The total number of reservists called up for servico under tjbe Military Service Act was 134,632. The first ballot was taken, on November 25, 1916, and after that Hate the compulsory system, H established under the : Actji ■ was maintained concurently with voluntary, recruiting, says the Dominion. The .ballot i figures, therefore, do not cover all the men who passed through -the hands pf the military medical officers during th® period t between November, , 1916, atid the signing of the armistice. Njpr do they include all the men who, Volpnteered for service before the initiation ; of the compulsory scheme. Men who • were accepted under the voluntary, (system generally became soldiers (some of them failed to mobilise), and they were not enrolled in the Expeditionary .Force Reserve. The volunteers who were rejected became members of the Reserve,, and were called later in the ballots'. . There were various sources of wastage in respect of the balloted men, and the medical boards did not have an oportunity to deal with al Ith© 134,632 g men whose names appeared in the Gazete. Abou,t 10,500 names were struck off the lists, the men concerned, being dead, of alien birth, out of New Zealand permanently, in jprison for serious offences, or already members of the Ex- f peditionary Forces. This total included! i some men whose appeals were allowed ; or who were classed it), (totally unfit) on account of some sever disability, such i as the loss of a limb or insanity. • I The number, of men, remaining for * disposal after 'the waartage mentioned | above was 124,075, and of this immber f 66,673 were classed *CP (unfit for active | service). The nmnidiervhbUfihM -for. camp i was 38,903. The <32 men represented I 53.73 of the men available for disposal, ' and the fit men 31.36 per cent, _ The * balance included 2268- men, or 1.82 per f cent., who ; , are classified as -Tort. These “lost” men have opt |>een traced. Some of them are shirkers, some 'of , them doubtless ore outside New Zealand. Their cases are in .the hands of the IK* rector of Personal Services, ‘ caused warrants lb be issued in many instances, ' ... Final figures regarding' the .m«9feat ; examinations of these balloted inen exo

not yet available. The 124,075 men ■ available for disposal included mem who were ■ clashed, D (totally* unfit), mea whose appeals were allowed, arid men - whose appeals were adjourned rine die. Many of these appellants .were jmedifcally examined, and the .will be shown when the final, figures .ate issued. The statistics now available deal with 110.612 of the men available for dis- J posal and they show the following re- N suits: — .... i Sent to camp (including Cl> 32,17 a J Under orders dor camp v 6,720 -J Fit appellants not finally d?alt with H Temporarily unfit ■' Unfit (Classed 02) 66ffi3 mjSb j The first number of First Uivision ;; men drawn by ballot was 80,085, and i of this number 72,364 were available for disposal after the wastage, otewJy J mentioned.. The appeals.of 5189~men were adjourned sine die. Excluding ,i|ip men whose appeal® were adjourned gine die and also men not examined, men "lost,” and appellant® whose.cases were not finally disposed of, the num- . her of First Division mem obtained' for ■< medical examination may be shown- as follow; —, 1 (Passed for canto (inc.d<hngCl) 24539. | Temporarily unfit ; Jw® jmTw-* i. . ,«MS ■ Appellants nofc finally disposed* of 000 ...

1 ~ ** The G3 Re-Exqaiination Board. later with the Fiist Division and as a result >f .its activities 3611 were given orders to enter camp.. The work was not complete when the signing of the armistwe jput mi' end to ie* iruiting effort in, Jew Zealand.- . Three classes oftfie Second Division , were covered by the ballots, namely, Class A ,(no children), .Oap B (one ' child}, and Class O ; (two children). The .•» results may' bo summarised as follow: oass Claes Class • ■ Number called 13,466 17,607' 25,0T6 fOT U«K «,955 25,197 1 Ap cT^fd o r *> vm m ] Passed for camp 2,777 3,942 5,054

temporarily uu- .. fit » *ll 244 i Unfit (classed- C?! di.w.W'l These figures are toot final, out t they are sufficienty accurate for pur- - pose o foomparison. Tkey show that the percentage of fit to the total number drawn in the idiots (including |i fit appellants .whose apptab were not finally disposed of, but.not tncloduwf some fit men whose appeals we :ed* jourhed sine (fie) was aa<follows;— v First Division ... , •35.57 ; Second Division — , Class A ' - JJ-fJ : ' A Claes B Classy ~l- 31-TO > All.-ballots ... ... ... 32- 18 .- The proportion o! men diwn in * ballots, and not traced was under 2 - per cent of the total number. « the names under inquiry are n#ed Jo those , remaining in the' hands ofi- the Dreow of Personal Services the percentages or “lost” men are as folk>we ;~Fxrßt Dm- . sion, 2,64; Class-A, 1.38; -f Class 0, .66; »U bwlots* A?™! k be noticed that thp men with occupy, a favourable position in wtose - •comparisons. ± - ’ - * "-Is