Recruiting tribunal sits for the last time

Stirling Burgh Recruiting Tribunal, which had considered the cases of men applying for exemption from military service, met for a final time .

The tribunals were set up across the country following the introduction of schemes to encourage recruitment and later conscription.

Men who felt they were not fit for military service or thought other exemption categories applied to them had to make their case to the tribunal, which in Stirling’s case was chaired by a Dr Kidston, Clarendon Place. Among the members of the panel were the Provost and miners’ agent Hugh Murnin.

The tribunal met 101 times and dealt with 1825 cases, some of which were recurring applications from the same men.

The number of men whose cases were dealt with by the burgh tribunal numbered 882 and they were aged up to 51. Exemption was refused in 297 cases and granted or continued in 1399, with 129 applications dealt with in other ways.

Dr Kidston was glad the sittings of the tribunal had come to an end because the task had been “most unpleasant for all of them”.

He added: “Some of the cases have been very difficult and their decisions might appear to be very hard but I believe there was one motive that had dictated all our actions and that is to be fair to the applicants, whoever they are.’

He praised the work of the national service representative Major Alston and said the tribunals “had always to keep two points before them: the personal claim of the applicant and the necessity of the country”.

He felt some people did not fully appreciate the country’s dire need for manpower and this led them to believe that in some cases the tribunal had delivered a hard judgment.

Major Alston congratulated the tribunal on the way it had conducted its business and spoke of the arduous nature of his duties, adding: “One has heard a great deal of the wonderful work done during the war in munitions, etc, but little is heard about the recruiting department.

“When you think of it, what are guns and munitions and transport without men?’

The Major praised the press for the “tact and discretion” with which they had reported the proceedings of the tribunal.

Referring to the 882 men dealt with by the tribunal, Mr Morris said 95 per cent had called on him, some of them up to half a dozen times.

Occasionally he had to take inquiries from the wives and mothers of applicants.

“That was by no means the most pleasant part of the work,” he added.