Other Grievahces.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3181, 4 September 1917, Page 8

Other Grievahces.

Mr Haycock said that the as=ociat.on was not satisfied with, the ol system in the administration of tho pltnC funds. Tho association tnought. that fiie timo had arrived when al. tl e thev should bo administered by a icinc- the Employment Bureaux set up by, the Government under the Returned Soldiers' Information Department. rliebureaux were doing very good work, ard in I> acee where they were established he did not think the arrangement shruld be but it would l» possib e » places where new bureaux nere to lie established to give ..the agency to the branch of the association, and he asked that this should be done. Major M f Killop> a returned medical .f----ficer spoke of tho education in;new occupations of men wholly or canacitated from carrying on their former occupations. . He suggested that tho educational facilities existnis.J" land and elfewhere should be utilised to the full' Ho made other suggestion-^ic-garding the discharge of men on arnval in New Zealand. One was that if the men were held for. ft time before dm"charge it would be possible to '•all upon a large number of thorn for more sorvice, as a great number of them would in a very short time recover sufficwatlj .to be fit for active semce again. . hj», he said, was the practice jn the Old C(.tiil-

Clark mentioned the grievance of the men of tho Main Body regarding the employment at .the bases of pen ot recent- reinforcements. Some of the best positions in the bases were held, by men who had never seen the hrmg-line -and he asked that these positions she uld be given where possiblo to men uho l.ad seen some service in the held. Promotions.'Mr D Seymour, brought up again the question of promotions. The policy of tho association was that aftei the I-orce was officered fully at,the beginning, a l other promotions to commissioned rank should have been made at the front,, and the commissions given to men who had proved their worth in the held. Ho was not prepared to -say that Territorial . officers should have no claim , to hold their .-silk, but lie claimed that men entering the forco for the first timo should not get commissions lo the exclusion of the ,n4n at the front. This unfairness, m the matter of promotion to commissions was a continual source of discontent among tho men at the front, and especially among the men of the Mam Body. It was certainly true at .0110 stoge that men got better opportunities of promotion by delaying the date of thdir enlistment. This should not be. In a period of thirteen months subsequent to jfarch 31, 1916, 727 officers had been appoinfed. Of these 25 per cent, were Territorial officers, 2 per cent, were Staff Corps men, 3 per cent, wero returned officers 71 por cent, were returned noncommissioned officers sent back from th® front 1.5 per cent, were returned noncommissioned officers Vlio were g' vcn commissions on re-enlist ng and 57 per cent, were men joining the forco for the first time. These were all-men, it should

be remembered,, who had enlisted two years after the beginning of the war. The association made tho suggestion that no officers should be sent forward with reinforcements, but that there should l>o retained permanent staffs for the transports -and permanent training stall's in tho camps.

Prime Minister's Reply. The Prime Minister, replying, said that the Government was only 100 will-in"-to redress any of tho grievances of returned soldiers. With regard to the first point—that (here should, bo a. Department of Repatriation—he said that as nearly as possible there was N f=uch a Department in existeiieo now, in the care of 111'.. Herd-man. This Department took care of the soldier on his return l" tho matter of finding him ' employment, and in this task the Department had been particularly successful. If it should be necessary to increaso the function* of this Department tho Government would be very glad to do it. Keßard"iS tho settlement of soldiers on the land, he thought-tho soldiers would be niafcinir a mist.iko if they aske<l toi Land for Settlement Act to apply to their land. As a matter of fact, the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act was reallv an amendment of the Land for Settlement Act. A suggestion for the improvement of the Land Fiuanco Act had been attended to already by tho i Government, and the Act tos to be made apnlioablo « re'irne< soldiers. He was already advised j.hat tho limit of =£500 advance to a soldiersottler was not enough, and the was to be increased. He was not -me \what the new limit-vns to be, but lit thought it' was .£750. 'J'ho request about fencik' wire and other farm requisites which returned: soldiers had to buy when going on to their holdings had already had the attention of the Government, and an order had-been placed for the purchase of a. large quantity of wire al n nrice of .£ls per ton less than the soldier would have had to pay for it on the retail. market. lV Government wcmld not make any money out of this imsi ness but would let the settlers have it at' the price at which the- Government bought it.. The Parliamentary Committee Schemo. He had no. objection to the setting lip of a Parliamentary Committee, bu.t ho did not think it would be possiblo to set | up-another committee this session. Al- ' ready two important . committees had i been set up in' addition to those ordinI arily appointed from the House, and he I feared that it would not be. possible to get another committee of the right pel sonnel for the investigation wlucli tho association was. asking. .The matter of enabling returned soldiers, to. obtain homes for themselves had i' eco } vctl I . < - t " tention He hoped to be able to allow returned soldiers to acquire homes for themselvca cn tho same terms as were now allowed to workers, and if finance was 'available after 'the war this would pprtainlv be don©. , Joseph Ward did not make any •remark on i the requests'of tho deputation, but merely assured the association of the willingness of the GQverii'nmrfc to cive a sympathetic, ear to, any appeals coming to it from them. / . Sir James Allen Replies. ■ Sir James Allen said that lie thought it would be wise if somu ol the oiiiccra of the association- would have an interview with 1 himself and ill'. Ilordinan as to exactly what they wanted m regard to'repatriation. It.would be necessaiy to understand firet of all what ivas meant by repatriation. Ho did no. think that any good purpose could be served by the setting up oi a Parliamontiiry Committee, because the .problem was changing every day. On the question of the education of the partially-disabled men ho said that there was a big movement in England for this purpose, and a scheme was in operation by which any New Zealand soldier could go to any ot the-special institutions in England il they wished before returning to this country. Facilities were offered to them to °"0 to sdme ot tho -lejuling toclmologicaHnslitutions in England,- and. evon to the mniversities. ' - 4s to the request that a returned so - dier should be put on the Pensions Board, ho had not the slightest objection to this, but-unless sojno one of tho present members of the board resigned an amendment of the Act would be necessary before .any additiohal appointment could bo made. , , ' The clothing question had been up before on many The .difficulty was that -the provision 'of clotting had to bo made according to »ome standard. It was true that the suit of mufti supplied was not the kind of suit that-would be worn by members of tho deputation, but it was a suit that could,be worn by riien who Worked in the fields. The Department could not supply every man with a suit. -Tho nien on coming into camp wore given facilities for returning to their, homes/the mufti they -were wearing when they came into camp. When they were discharged they w-ero given also' a complete outfit of under--clothing, and two pairs.of boots, ■in addition to their uniforms, and the Government must have regard to the expense.. . .