xvi
Malingering.
Reasons for
proposing a
modification
of the present
invaliding
rules.
been called on to perform during this period, and that he has been well fed, well
cared for, and, as a rule, has been serving in his native country, it may, perhaps,
not be going too far to state that, at either of the ages just mentioned, if in good
health, he might be considered in his prime as a soldier. There is little doubt
but that many sepoys consider Rs. 4 a month, when gained at an early age, to
be a sufficient inducement to them to withdraw from military service and
settle down in their native villages ; but, according to the present rules, if they
are strong and in good health, the only means by which they can effect this
object is by malingering. The extent to which natives can carry out the
practice of under-feeding when they have this object in view is well known, so
much so, that to an inexperienced or non-professional person they appear to
be in the last stage of some very incurable and wasting disease ; whereas they
are in reality the willing victims of their own system of semi-starvation, from
which, however, they rapidly recover after a few months of pension and
home-life.
43. Again, who is there that has served in a Native regiment and has not
seen those miserable cases of so-called rheumatism, or rheumatic pains, which
seem in their severity and symptoms to be peculiar to the sepoy alone, and to
generally attack him some months before the assembling of the Annual
Invaliding Committee on the 1st of April ? Some of these are of such apparent
severity that the expectant pensioner seems to be unable to turn himself in his
bed, much less to get out of it. In others, it may be observed that the patient
can only move with difficulty, even when aided by the use of a stick or
crutches, or may be his spine or some joint appears to be permanently distorted ;
but in many of these latter cases no joint lesion whatsoever can be discovered
by the most careful manual or ocular examination, while imposition has been
detected by putting the patient under the influence of chloroform. The position
of the medical officer in regard to such patients is an invidious one ; as in the
former case, while anxious to avoid doing any injustice to the individual, he
may not sufficiently protect the interests of the State ; and in the latter, though
still doing what he conscientiously considers to be right, the medical officer,
remembering the truth contained in the words humanum est errare, may feel
that, by reporting a man as a malingerer, he has possibly acted hastily and
harshly in being the means of depriving him of the pension for which he had
served 15 years. To obviate this, I would propose, on medical grounds, that
sepoys should be enlisted for a term of, say, 20 years ; that on the expiration
of this period, they would, as a matter of right, receive their present rate of
pension, or any other that might be determined on ; and that the retention of
any man in a regiment for further service after he became entitled to pension
should be dependent on the opinion of a medical committee as at present
assembled. After 20 years' service, the average age of the sepoys should not
be more than 42 years, and I think it may be conceded that they should be
well capable of performing all the duties of a soldier up to that time of life.*
There can be little doubt but that when a sepoy, having completed 15 years'
service, has determined to take his pension, he will leave no means untried to
effect his object ; and, while impressed with this idea, I believe I am correct in
stating that he may be considered thoroughly useless for the proper performance
of his duties as a soldier.
Recruits.
Duties of
medical
officers in
connexion
with the
examination
of recruits.
44. The recruits enlisted during the past year, in accordance with the
orders conveyed in G. G. O. No. 890 of 1875, appear, wherever they have been
reported on, to have been generally a carefully selected lot of young men, and
likely to turn out efficient soldiers.
45. In an inspection report of a certain regiment, the Deputy Surgeon-
General remarked that he considered a good many of the recruits were of
inferior physique, &c. A copy of this portion of the inspection report was at
once sent for the information of the Regimental Surgeon, who was at the same
time requested to forward an explanation of the circumstances under which
* On this point Surgeon (now Surgeon-Major) J. B. White, in his medical and sanitary report of the 42nd
Regiment Assam Light Infantry, whilst employed with the left column of the Looshai expeditionary force (vide para-
graph 31, page 327 of the Native Army Report for 1872), made the following remarks :—" The greater efficiency of
ol d s ol di er s over t he younger men was mos t mar ked t hr oughout t hi s campai gn ; t hey bor e f at i gue and pr i vat i ons bet t er
and were much less liable to disease. The Native Officers of the 42nd, all old men (3 above 40 years' service), were not
once ill, and never lagged or fell out on the march."