RETURNED SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3086, 17 May 1917, Page 6

RETURNED SOLDIERS

HELPING THEM BACK TO ClVlli LIFE. ; Sir,—Dr. Maguire, Superintendent, of! Auckland Hospital, has called public* attention to one case where a. returned soldier has come into collision, with the law, and foreshadows trouble with mere who have been away on military service. This will become a source or considerable.anxiety to the■community, and is a question that should be intelligently and sympathetically handled, so that we may not repeat the experience) after the South African War, when itwas a matter of common remark, "What a number of returned soldiers there are in the prisons." . . ' .: It should be borne in mind thatmany of these men become abnormal; They are, as it were, thrown out 06 gear, are liable to "kick over th| traces," and cannot fairly be judged by ordinary standards. Stay-at-homes can hardly realise this state of feeling, which makes so many for,, the time being square pegs in round holes. They liavo remained in the old grooTes, but; the soldier has for a period been in aj different world, an environment thaw teaches as virtues the very things that, would bring him into utter damnation if followed up in civil life. He ie taught to be a fighter, formidable to tho foe, eager to attack, with hot pas- , sion given fullest rein, but yet. amen-' able to a stern discipline which meets him at every turn. He is looked after and nursed to this end, with no thought of the wherewithal to live, for: all is done for him, bed and board ami; regular pay. He has congenial companionship, amusements are provided for him, and he is made much of by the other sex. In many places where our soldiers are fighting he is often, free to take, to commandeer what is for his welfare on active servicehorses, food, and what not. iNow, with such a life as this, .ex- , teading over a year, or two years, or. more, full, free,' and vigorous, judge of the contrast when he returns to* civil life, that now seems to him nambypamby, milk-and-water, and dull. It is hard for him to settle down, _ hd misses the cheerv reckless ship, the "come-day, go-day, God send pay-day" sort of feeling that becomes , almost a second nature to so many. The man who drinks seeks the companionship of his old comrades, and he in--evitably. tries to carry on as near us may be the same old life, but, with no paternal Government to supply his daily needs, and no salutary discipline to keep him within bounds. It not last, his pocket fails him, and then; —what? - We owe a debt we can never repay to those lads who have left their homes to "fight the good fight with all their might," but who have, many of them, tho hardest part of their lives in front of them when learning to win the victories which peace hath no less than war, and the sympathy and wisdom or the people, backed with all its resources, should be given unsparingly to sustain them in the path of domestic comfort, well-being, and honour. — am ' J.°'iIAJORIBANKS STEELE. Oriental Bay Hotel, Wellington May 14, 1917.