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Partial Rejection. Per Cent. Per Thousand. Physically disabled .. .. .. .. .. .. 22 J = 3-07. Diseases of lungs .. .. .. .. .. .. 20 = 2-73 heart .. .. .. .. .. .. 17 2-21 kidneys .. .. .. .. .. ' 3 0-39 „ nervous system .. .. .. .. 8| = 1-10 ~ digestive system .. .. .. .. .. 2| = 0-32 skin .. .. .. .. .. .. 2| = 0-32 „ ears .. .. .. .. .. 3J = 0-52 „ eyes .. .. .. .. .. .. 6| = 0-85 Defective vision .. .. .. .. .. 2J = 0-32 Deafness .. .. .. .. .. .. l| = 0-20 Mentally deficient .. .. .. ... . . .. 0 Undersized .. .. .. . . . 8 1-04 Anaemia .. .. .. .. .. .. 2 0-26 The above tables, especially those for Cadets, will be very valuable in future years for purposes of comparison. The examination, as a whole, was almost in its entirety conducted by officers of the New Zealand Medical Corps, thus ensuring uniformity of records and a great reduction in expenditure. For an initiatory effort the examination proyed most satisfactory. Each Principal Medical Officer had sole charge of the examination in his particular district. Various subcentres were formed and placed in charge of a Medical Officer, who was responsible for all the examinations in that subcentre. By this means Cadets and recruits were put to very little inconvenience, as places for examination were so widely distributed that in no case had any one very far to go. In some few cases, owing to a misunderstanding, some recruits travelled a considerable distance, but on the whole the general plan of the examination worked well. Owing to reports in the Press about the great prevalence of scoliosis amongst the youths in the Dominion, instructions were issued that special attention was to be directed to that particular condition. Very little true scoliosis was proved to exist; it certainly did not amount to more than 2 - 5 per thousand of those examined. True, there were many slight cases of deviation from the normal that in a system of very rigid exclusion might be considered scoliosis, but it was felt by all the Medical Officers that these deviations were so slight that they in no way affected the health, constitution, or fitness of the individual, and that they were really not true scoliosis. Taken altogether, the examination showed that the standard of fitness in the Dominion was a high one; it would have been very much higher had there not been such a widespread neglect of the ordinary hygiene of the mouth. The percentage of bad teeth and unclean mouths was a very large one. Of the ultimate rejection of the recruits, quite one-half were rejected because their teeth were in such a bad state, thus causing impairment of the constitution. One point is worthy of note. Taking the state of fitness as a whole, the youths in the country showed up rather better than those in the towns. But as regards teeth the reverse was the case, the teeth of the youths in the town being certainly better than those in the country. On the " Amokura " every boy had a clean, well-cared-for mouth, with the result that the teeth of the " Amokura " boys were in excellent condition. This is worthy of mention, because it shows that if the teeth are properly cared for the enormous waste and loss of teeth ceases, proving that it is want of care, and that only, that causes the enormous percentage of bad teeth. Rejections in the British Army for loss or decay of teeth equal 55 per thousand; here they total 120 per thousand. James R. Pukdt, Colonel, Director of Medical Services.

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