TRIBUTE TO SERVICEMEN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 52, 20 November 1946, Page 4

TRIBUTE TO SERVICEMEN

MR Justice Fair’s comment in the Supreme Court at Napier, in which he surveyed the incidence of crime in New Zealand, contained a well deserved tribute to returned servicemen, who have set an example which other sections of the community jmight emulate with advantage. To the men who have returned in their thousands, determined to continue as steady, good citizens, the thanks of the country are due. In no other country has demobilisation been effected with such little difficulty as far as the conduct of the men is concerned. “Their reputation indeed compares most favourably with that which they enjoyed overseas,” said the judge, “and this can be taken as a tribute generally to the standard of living in this country and to the character of New Zealanders as a whole.” It is true that the men of the armed forces have returned to their places in civil life with far less difficulty than most people expected. In most countries there have been troubles after demobilisation because of housing and employment disappointments. Although all that New Zealand servicemen hoped for might not have been realised, they have on the whole accepted their new conditions soberly and with an admirable display of common sense. This is due in some measure to the fact'that the whole country was determined to do all that was reasonably possible to welcome back the men and women of the forces.