SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE

Otago Witness, Issue 3349, 22 May 1918, Page 45

SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE

NEW EXECUTIVE IN CHRISTCHURCH. CHRISTCHURCH, May 16. A meeting of the Christchurch Second Division League was held to-night. : Mir R. A. Armstrong (president of the National Executive) presided. The chairman said the league must support the Military Service Act. Under no circumstances had the league failed in its duty to soldiers and their dependents. It. had achieved a lot, and, working along constitutional lines, was goinjj to achieve a lot more. •' ' . The special business was to eject officers, most of those holding office having resigned as a result of recent events. An executive, from which the extremists are mis»ing, was elected. " REMITS TO CONFERENCE. WELLINGTON, May-14. . At a general meeting of the Second. Division League to-niaht. a number of ret mits to the Dominion Conference werq passed, including the following :—" That alt, sine die exemptions be immediately re< viewed by. the board to be specially sefcun for the purposo, and that in future physical fitness be the only factor to determine whether or not men shall serve in military forces except in eases of men permanently employed in essential national work. The meeting pledged itself to support whatever measures were considered necessary by the conference, and closed with the. singing of the National Anthem. THE MEDICAL EXAMINATION. . A remarkable feature about the medical examination of Second Division reservists is (the Wellington correspondent of the Lyttetlon Times says) that Class B, tna.rried-' men with one child, are showing a higher percentage of military fitness than Class A, married men without children. The Minister of Defence states that Class A men were found, on medical examination, to have £. percentage of unfits slightly greater than the First Division, but Class B is equal to the average in .-fitness. Asked if the ■ medical standard has been varied for Second Division men, the Minister said:. "Wo are applying the same medical standard, if anything stricter, because we are not \ proposing to re-examina C2 men. However, I cannot pledge myself to anything, because nobody knows what circumstances may arise to make u*. alter our opinion."

A special meeting of the executive of the Otago Second Division League was held on 'the 14th, when a resolution was passed with. respect to the conditions affecting Cl men. The resolution was to the effect that in cases where men havo bejn classed Cl they should not bo sent into camp for a month after being medically examined, and if after a month's treatment they proved to bo fit, that they be given two months' leave in which to arrange their affairs. If it is proved that thero is no possibility of making them fib for service after the expiration of a month the league is of tho opinion that they should he immediately discharged. This will take the form of a remit to the Dominion Conference, which will assemble on the 22nd hist. Another matter dealt with was the figures published last week on the authority of tho. Minister of Defence showing the amounts that are being paid to a soldier's wife, and a sub-committee, consisting of the president (Mr S. 8.. Maedonald), Messrs Bewley, M'Kinnon, and Slmgar, was appointed to draw up a report setting out the purchasing power of these amounts in the various centres in New Zealand.