RETURNED SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2581, 1 October 1915, Page 4

RETURNED SOLDIERS

BACK PAY DIFFICULTY. In Parliament yesterday, Mr. T. M. Wilford (Hutt) asked the Minister of Defence (tho Hon. J. Allen) whether his attention had been -called to an articlo in an Auckland paper, reporting a. meeting held by returned soldiers at the Soldiers' Club on Saturday last\ for the purpose of ventilating their grievances at the way they had been treated. Tho different grievances were set out. some in regard to delay in pay, oiners in regard to tho sale of gifts, but the most important of all, which ho hesitated to believe, and asked tho Minister to at once ascertain tho truth, was that, ono turned trooper had slept one night in the Domain, Auckland, and one night on Hobson Wharf, rather than ask charity of tho Patriotic Society till his pay should arrive. If there was no truth in the statement it should lie' emphatically denied, and if it was true it was a disgraceful fact. The Hon. J. Allen, in rcply;«said that ho had not heard of the last complaint, but the position with regard to roturned soldiers 1, was that before leaving tho ship every soldier received £5 in cash. Since the return of the men to their homes the Pay Department of the Defence Department'had been working night and day to deal with the pay sheets, and he believed that 355 pay' sheots had been 6ent to Auckland within a fortnight of disoinbarkation of the men. There might bo individual oases where the men who had received £5 were not able to make that last a few days, but everything was being done that could be done to_ expedite the pay. • Mr. A. E. Glover said that it had been represented. to him that some of tho returned soldiers by' the Tahiti,' and somo by tie Willochra, he believed had only received about half their backpay up to the present.Mr. Allen gave -a similar answer as givon to tho previous question. |

The war has had a greater effect oil the mining industry than on most other industries (says the report of-the Mines Department for the year). Not only have the miners of tlio Dominion found their full quota of men to go to the front and actively engago in upholding tho Empire's pause, but the men who have been left behind to carry oa the industry havo been subject to special and. peculiar dEsadvantaces. Mining is an industry in which explosives of all kinds are largely used, and owing to the enormous demand for ammunition and other explosives for warlike purposos there has been, and still is, great difficulty in procuring a sufficient supply for the use of bur minors. Then, again, our larger mining enterprises ■ are greatly dependent on British and other imported capital for their prosecution and development; and since tho outbreak of hostilities tho inflow of capital to the Dominion lias practically ceased. Moreover, tho export of somo minerals has been prohibited, and in the case of others has been greatly restricted owing to tho closing of tlio -usual markets or to tho lessened demand. Notwithstanding these disadvantageous circnmstancos, however, the industry has hold its own fairly well, and in somo branches actually shows_ bottev results than during tho preceding year.

At tho end of tho financial year the Wellington Tramways Accident Fund was in credit to tho extent of £8672. Tho fund was inaugurated in 1909, the. uuclous being created by tlio transfer of '£1000 from the Tramway Ilevenuo Account. During tho six years it has been, in operation' the corporation has therefore mado a clear gain of £7672 by its system of self-insurance, says Mr. W. R. Morton, general manager, in his annual report to the City Council.