Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1948 HAVE WE FORGOTTEN ALREADY?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 56, 16 June 1948, Page 4

Bay Of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1948 HAVE WE FORGOTTEN ALREADY?

Talking to the Borough Council on Monday night, Mr C. Blackie, investigating accountant for the Rehabilitation Department, said with evident feeling that he had formed the opinion that 90 per cent of the people of this country were apt to forget there ever had been a war. He prefaced that by saying that the Whakatane Rehabilitation Committee was one of the most heartening and helpful things he had run against since his return. Mr Blackie gave the impression that he spoke more in sorrow than in anger. He was not blaming anyone. He was not begging for his comrades. He was merely stating what he considered to be a fact. If it is a fact, then it is a grievous one indeed, but, with all respect to Mr Blackie and the cause that obviously lies very near his heart, it must be suggested that he placed the percentage rather high. He will be here until Friday, investigating the possibilities of rehabilitating returned men here in all ways, but more particularly in business. He wants to meet servicemen with rehabilitation problems to discuss, but more than that he wants to meet citizens with a real desire to help, citizens who can offer practical suggestions, particularly with regard to making town sections or businesses available. This district enjoyed an enviable reputation for practical patriotism throughout the war. Mr Blackie has already given its Rehabilitation Committee full marks, but any local resident who feels there is really anything practical he could do and does not offer to do it is only helping to justify the charge that 90 per cent of us have forgotten the war. Perhaps Mr Blackie could have qualified it a little. Most of us have not forgotten, never could forget. All of us have cause to remember those who did not come back. We all knew some of them, if not as members of our own families, then as our friends. But he is right in charging some of us with having forgotten those who did come back. -If they are not getting a “fair go” today, the blame does not lie at the Government’s door. The fault is with us. We, the citizens of this country, have tremendous power to help under the existing Rehabilitation legislation. If servicemen have not an advantage over others with equal financial resources and equal ability in any field of endeavour, then it is not the Government’s fault. It has given them those advantages. Its legislation has been honestly intended to give the servicemen a start in the race for the prizes in the flesh pots of peace, but co-operation from citizens who are in a position to make that legislation the effective thing it should be and was meant to be has often been lacking. Mr Blackie said he came back from the war full of high hopes, which turned to disillusionment in the realities of uneasy peace. He found his association with the local Rehabilitation Committee heartening. His disillusionment returned when he found full time work for the Rehabilitation Department and found how much public apathy to the servicemen’s needs there seemed to be. He is back at Whakatane now, no doubt hoping that he will again find fresh encouragement and help in his task here. It will be no credit to this district if it lets him and his comrades down. This district has rich possibilities in all fields. There must be members of this community who are in a position to make practical suggestions and back them with action. And there can be no more practical way of honouring the dead than helping the living to enjoy the benefits of the way of life for which they fought.