The Dominion MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1917. COMING HOME FROM WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 65, 10 December 1917, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1917. COMING HOME FROM WAR

This country is entitled to be proud of what it is doing to meet the just claims of its soldiers who return from the war, and the National Government has shown commendable foresight also in making preparations well in advance to deal witn the larger problems of demobilisation which will arise later. These things are so well known, and so much good work is being done in the way of extending to returned soldiers tho consideration to which they are fully entitled, that ib is difficult to understand why the Advisory Board of the New Zealand Patriotic Societies has revived the demand for the creation of a separate department—a Repatriation Department—to deal with re' turned soldiers. In ordey to justify this demand it would be necessary to show that the legitimate interests of returned soldiers aro being neglected or are in danger of being neglected. This, as far as we know, the Advisory Board has not attempted to do. If it is intended that the proposed Repatriation Department should exercise compre'hensivo powers, it would bo necessary to show also that the work of. restoring soldiers to civil life would bo done better by such a Department than under the existing departmental organisation. This, it should be remembered, includes the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department, which seems to represent in essentials precisely tho central repatriation authority which this country needs. The terms in which the demand of the Advisory Board is cast would almost suggest that its members, or some of them,' aro unfamiliar with what has been and is being done to the. restoration'of soldiers to civil life under the best possible conditions. At all events an appeal to facts absolutely rebuts the implied charge that tho problem of repatriation is being neglected in this country. The central feature of the machinery of repatriation set up by the National Government is the Discharged Soldiers' Information ' Department. Under the painstaking and sympathetic administration of the Hon. A. L. Her'diian this Department has entered upon a much wider range of useful activities than its name would suggest, and these activities arc from time to time being extended as new needs and problems arise. The work of the Department is both comprehensive and thorough. When it was constituted, in August, 1915, tho governing principle was laid down that no man was to be missed. In practice no returned soldier has been written off the books of the Department until he has been given the assistance he needs to find civil employment, has signified that he needs no assistance, or is numbered with tho minority who ignore repeated proffers of assistance. In the matter of finding employment for returned men the Department receives very valuable assistance from local committees which havo been formed to represent it at various centres throughout the DoWhile much useful work has been done under this head, the Department has engaged in various other activities. Its operations?, for instance, aro co-ordinated with those of tho Lands Department, which has already provided somn

hundreds of returned soldiers with country holdings. Creditable enterprise has been displayed also in meeting tho special case of disabled men who desire to regain the status of wage-earners or to increase their earning-powcr. Not only are. they enabled to do this without forfeiting any part of the pension awarded in respect of their injuries, but the State, through tho Discharged Soldiers' Information Department, offers them generous assistance to the end of increasing their earning power. Provisions havo been in force for some timo under which disabled soldiers are offered free tuition or training at technical schools and other centres of instruction, and also allowances, irrespective of pension, on account of board and lodging. A further and particularly commendable departure in the interests of disabled. or partlydisabled men was announced by Mk. Heedman a few days ago. Briefly, it/ is proposed to enable a disabled soldier to learn a trade within the environment of the trade itself. Power has, therefore, been taken to permit such men to accept employment at less than the award rate of wages, and the State will pay them the difference between the wage they rcceivo and the minimum wage in the trade concerned, or tho sum of £.3 a week, whichever amount is the smaller. Tho grant in augmentation of wages earned is to be mado in ordinary cases for not longer than twelve months, but in special cases the period may bo extended. Considering that this arrangement will apply to,men already in receipt of a pension, the provision mado is generous. In working operation and given the reasonable spirit of jiccommodation in trado> union members and others which is necessary to its success, tho new scheme should make an important addition to the beneficient activities "of the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department. Much space would bo needed to review in detail the operations of this Department and others on behalf of returned soldiers, but no one can look into the facts without realising, that the' departmental machinery created or adapted in this country to deal with tho problems of repatriation is working well, and, what is still more important, that it is flexible and is being extended and adapted to meet new demands as they arise. At the stage reached it is doubtful whether any belligerent country can show a better record than New Zealand in its treatment of discharged soldiers returning to civil life. In Britain and in most of tho European countries at war much more elaborate organisations than exist in this Dominion have been created to provide for the training of disabled men, but this is inevitable in view of the enormous numbers of men in this category to bo provided for in the European States. Our organisation in this country is necessarily simpler, but we are not aware of any country that makes more liberal provision for its disabled men than New Zealand. At the same time it is the distinguishing and possibly unique feature of our local arrangements that they aim at giving all returned soldiers—able-bodied or disabled—the assistance they need to enable them to resume their place in civil life under satisfactory conditions.

That an extension of existing measures will be necessary to meet the full demands of the demobilisation . period goes without saying, but thero is no reason to suppose that the Government is unmindful of tho fact. It has given some definite proofs that it is looking well ahead, notably; in setting asido a sum of two millions sterling to bo expended by tho Public Works Department and by local bodies on development works which will provide employment for soldiers as they return from the war. No doubt the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department will as readily coordinate its operations with those of the Public Works Department as, under existing circumstances, with those of the Lands Department. The rapid growth and extension of its activities is the best proof that it is capable of acting as the central authority in affairs of repatriation: and meeting tho larger problems of demobilisation as they arise. It is clear that there must be such a central authority, but it is equally clear that no useful _ purpose would be served by allowing it to invade the province of other Dopartmenls, such as those' of Lands and Public Works. The Discharged Soldiers' Information Department is a particularly well-organised and efficient Repatriation Department, and might very well be given tho name as well as the duties of such a Department. Any proposal to create a Repatriation Department which would invade the province of others is open to objection, on two main grounds. In the first place, such an arrangement would involve undesirable overlapping, and in addition it would tend to perpetuate the temporary_ distinction between returned soldiers and the rest of the community. To regard our returned soldiers as a class apart is to adopt a false standpoint. They are citizens who temporarily laid down their civil status in order to serve their country in the field. It is the duty of the community to enable them 'to resume this status on' the most advantageous terms possible, and this should be the governing consideration in all activities on their behalf.