The Dominion THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1917. LOOKING AHEAD

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3080, 10 May 1917, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, MAY 10, 1917. LOOKING AHEAD

. The very full and clear statement of the plans that are being made by the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department to assist returned soldiers to find ' employment, which tho MSaistor in charge of the Department gave to a representative of The Dominion yesterday, will be generally welcomed and approved. It is plain that Mr. Hekdman and the officers of his Department have- given tho question very close and sympathetic attention, and are "wisely preparing well in advance to meet the calls which are certain to be made when our soldiers return to the Dominion. The Minister, we are glad to note, is facing a.diffioult task in the right spirit. He realises/ as indeed wo all should, that the country is under an obligation to these men who have given up their , positions and risked their lives for us, which obligation must _ be honoured in a generous spirit. Ho ' feels, as we all, feel, that there must never bo the, slightest ground for suspicion or complaint that our appreciation of their services has. faded with the passing of the danger which threatened us, or that our ardour, for their welfare has cooled with tho completion of the task which they set out.to perform. Nothing that New Zealand, can do to restore tho returned soldiers to their old or to better positions in life should be left undone. This is the spirit in which the Minister is facing the task which has been . entrusted to him, and though there are many difficulties to be overcome in planning to meet the demands which may arise when the big rush of homeward-bound troops sets in, the practical and thorough manner in which tho Department is setting about its preparations affords promise of. the development of a wellplanned and efficient organisation. It may be hoped that in the great majority of cases employers will bo anxious to show their appreciation of the men's services \>y taking them pack in their old positions, and in this way a large proportion will be immediately provided for without the assistance of the Department being needed. It is tho least that employers can do where their old employees desiro to take up the positions they vacated in order to light in their country's defence. Sut in many instances the men have not had regular employment in any particular position; there are many others who, havingtried a strenuous, open-air life, will not care to return to indoor work in office or shop or factory; while still others will be unfitted to follow their old occupations. It is these different classes of men that the Department can assist, and which Mr. Herdman has shown us it is preparing to assist. Doubts may be felt as to whether any large number of the men who prior to enlistment were , accustomed to city life will bo inclined to take iip fanning pursuits, but the more of the young and ablebodied men that can be induced to take advantage of the >farm-train-ing facilities to bo offered them, and the opportunity to acquire farms of their own, the bettor it will be for the country as well as for the men themselves. A farmer cannot be made out of a town-bred man in a'week or a month, as many people appear to imagine, but with provision for proper and adequate training hundreds of these young men could be made into useful farmers, and the money and time spent on their training would be a good investment for the State. It will have been noted that the Minister, in authorising tho methods he proposes to pursue for getting into touch with the returned and returning soldiers, makes provision for distributing a circular letter to each soldier on homeward-bound transports. By this means tho soldier, before he lands back in New Zealand, will bo made acquainted with the oxistence of the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department, and tho assistance which it is designed to afford him. We would suggest, though probably he already has the- matter in view, fcliat the Minister might go a good deal further in utilising' the opportunity aifordod by the long voyage home to acquaint himself with the probable

needs of the returning men. Either through the High Commissioner's Office or in connection with the 'Military Office in London, he might establish a branch of his Department, whose business it would be to get into touch with the officer in commnnd of each transport about to leave for New Zealand. The officer in charge of each body of troops could be supplied with the necessary literature explaining tho objects of the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department, and also with the forms containing the questions usually put by the Department to returned soldiers. It would be the duty of the commanding officer to see that each soldier on the transport received one of these forms, also that he filled it in and returned 'it. If this were done, the forms could be handed over to the Department here on the vessel's ai rival, and the information would thus be available without any rush or scramble the- moment the men returned. There is no reason that wo can see why this system should not be put into operation at or.ee, though its value would no doubt be greater later on when the pressure on the Department will' be "heavier.