PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



27 



amongst applicants in the 'under 20 enlistment class/ 

 Only very little experience had been gained by the men in 

 this class between leaving school and enlistment, and 

 usually that experience was entirely in unskilled work. As 

 a matter of fact, experience by the Selection Officers went 

 to show that it was generally necessary, in settling the 

 question of the best training for the men in the 'under 20 

 enlistment class,' to take into consideration the character- 

 istics developed by them during their school life. Of course 

 there was a number of cases in which the military experi- 

 ence was of special character, and afforded valuable inform- 

 ation for the use of the Selection Officers. The selection 

 of trades for the injured men, whilst carried out generally 

 in accordance with the directions set out above, differed 

 materially from what was necessary for the men in the 

 ''under 20 enlistment class.' There were, of course, injured 

 men who had enlisted under 20, but the majority had had 

 more or less experience in some calling between the time 

 of leaving school and enlistment. Indeed, many of the 

 injured men had followed skilled callings prior to going on 

 active service. In such cases, Selection Officers were 

 instructed to make the best possible use of pre-war experi- 

 ence as a basis for re-training. These instructions were 

 carried out, with the result that a complete change of 

 occupation was only resorted to when no other course was 

 possible. For example, an injured man, who, before enlist- 

 ing, had been a journeyman carpenter, which required that 

 he should be able to climb about a building in course of 

 erection, but whose injuries made this no longer possible, 

 was trained to be a cabinetmaker, provided that he could 

 work indoors at a bench, or to be a foreman carpenter, or 

 where education and aptitude were especially good, to be 

 an architectural draftsman. Another example of the 

 principle followed would be that of a man being trained as 



