TRAINING OF C2 MEN.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 October 1917, Page 4

TRAINING OF C2 MEN.

ALLEGED GRAVE INJUSTICES. Wellington, Oct. IT. The House spent the best part of an 'hour this afternoon discussing a petition for the release from military service of a young man at present in the C2 camp at Fcatherston. Tho military doctor* had said that the man could be made fit for service at the front. Civilian doctpra had certified that he was unfit, owing to a weak leg and a flat foot, and several members of the House urged that there was grave injustice in taking into camp men who would be sure to weak down in training. The Minißter for Defence , replied with an appeal to the House not to open a door ft> influence by interfering witli the opcrawons of tho Military Service Act. He said that all reservists were on the same footing as regards the medical examination and that it was not wise for politicians to attempt to review the decisions of the medical boards. The House endorsed this view by 41 votes to 20. Speaking to your correspondent on this subject, one of the military medical officers said it did not appear to be generally understood that there was no hard anil fast line dividing tho fit man from the unfit. For every man who broke down in training, there were a dozen men who showed rapidly improved physique, and if every man who might break down in tho camps was rejected, the country would loso hundreds of recruits and tlie men themselves would miss an opportunity to overcome their weaknesses. "It is not possible to predict with certainty how the training will affect a man," said the doctor, "Two recruits may present precisely the same characteristics to the eye. One of them will develop rapidly in camp and the other will have to bo discharged. It seems to me the right thing to send into camp all the men who have a reasonable chance of becoming fit for active service A proportion of the doubtful men will break down. But is their hardship as great as that of the man who it smashed up at the front 1"