WHY RECRUITS FAIL

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11510, 5 October 1915, Page 3

WHY RECRUITS FAIL

NARROW CHESTS: BAD TEETH CAMP LIFE THE REMEDY. HAGLEY PARK AS TRAINING GROUND. Tiki other night fifty-isix men presented thorn sehvs i'or medical examination, and only twelve passed as ittAn examination of the records rJiov."* that 50 per cento'' the rejects went out simply because they could not reach tho minimum chest measurement of 34 in. TOO MA NT KKJKCTS. A fortnight's physical training might make these men lit to take the field'. An officer who knows tho material that is being thus rejected says that any man within a coupio of inches of the standard should be accepted provisionally. sworn in and placed in a local camp for physical training. Here he would be doing the work that would have to be done at Trcntham, and ho could' be paid -Is a day until he was either accepted for the Expeditionary Force or discharged as unable to make up his deficiency. CAT,IP AT HAGLEY PAT! K. Hagley Park has been suggested as a training ground for these, temporary unfits. If thought desirable, they could sleep in their homes or in billets, and report every morning at camp for training. 'With the summer coming on, they could bo marched to New Brighton, exercised' in open order on the beach, and then sent in for a swim. In this wav x uian might easily put on a few inches inside a few weeks. That, at any rate, is the experience of officers at Trentham, where the orderly habits of camp life and the regular and wholesome food work a groat improvement even in the best men. The instructors would be easily, obtained. There arc cadet sergeant-majors too young to go to the front, and they count undertake tne work at a pinch, but outer men might come forward, glad of the opportunity to give what service they could. The other common cause of rejection is defective teeth- Most of the men who come in from the country to enlist soon "bp'GTid what money have, and ar° left "on the roc*.~~- without the wherewithal to nay the dentist's bill. It is an open secret that the C.D.C. is urging the Government to undertake the payment of dental attention where men have to be rejeeetd tor bad teeth. Iu many cases the men are agreeable to the amount of the bill being stopped out oi* their military nay, but- this usually means robbing a dependent. So far no olTicial announcement has been made on the matter, but there are hopes that the Defence Department, facc'd with a real shortage of recruits, will awaken to its necessities if not to its responsibilities in the matter. The only safeguard required would be to swear the men iu at once and thus have a claim upon them, because in practice many a man who is rejected as temporarily unfit does not trouble to offer again. At present there is a young man on the defence books anxious to get away. He was passed as fit with the exception of teeth as far back as June, but he cannot pay for the necessary "Cental plate, ant?, as he is supporting his mother, it w T ould be hardlv fair to deduct the amount from her allowance. Such cases as these emphasise the fact tha* benartment !s tut «aivo to needs of the case. A URY-rO'ft INFANTRY. Ohristchurch has to find '2OO infantrymen by October 20. To be exact. 190 are required, for ten have volunteered. These must be fit men, an'd it seems hopeless to expect that they will all be forthcoming. there is a tendency on the part of volunteers to offer for the Army Service Corps, the ambulance or the hospital ship. What the recruiting officers want is men who will come forward' in a sporting spirit and offer themselves unreservedly" for the branch that_ needs them most. No tradesmen will be drafted into the infantry If they are useful in the A.SC.. but the officers want to be free in the matter. The need to-day is for infantry. Mounted men are not so badly needed.