SOLDIERS' CLUBS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 124, 12 February 1918, Page 8

SOLDIERS' CLUBS

MR. RUSSELL'S OPINIONS ON EXPENSIVE BUILDINGS A DEPUTATION OF RETURNED MEN Some remarks made recently by the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. G. W. Russell) on the subject of the expenditure of large sums of. money on permanent clubs for returned soldiers have attracted the notice of members of the executive of the New Zealand Returned SoMjers , Association. A deputation from this body waited on the Minister yesterday to discuss with him the opinions he had expressed.

Mr. J. D. Harper said that the remarks of the Minister had given tho association a good deal of concern, and they thought that a free discussion of the matter would perhaps clear up some misunderstandings regarding the objects of the association in establishing theso clubs for the returned men. Some of these clubs had been in existence now for upwards of a year, and the association was now in a position to say that the clubs were a most useful agency in assisting in the work of repatriating the soldier. Proof could be offered in support of this statement. The Minister had stated his fear that the direct opposite might be .the effect of the establishment of these clubs. If he had any evidence to offer in support of that proposition they would all bo glad to have it. It appeared that the Minister was not opposed to the establishment of temporary clubs, but only to the erection of expensive permanent buildings. He would point out to the Minister, however, that it was not possible to say yet how long the process of repatriation would occupy. It might 'be two, three, or even five years, but he presumed that there"* would come a time when the process would be complete. When that time came the buildings would still remain and they could then bo turned into public institutions of some kind. He asked the Minister to believe that the whole intention and object of the association was to entice the men bank into civilian life again. The aim of the association in establishing -club!; was not simply to provide places where soldiers could have a game of billiards or a cup of tea. There was a more important objectthan this, and he claimed that the clubs were attaining that object. How the Clubs serve. Mr. O. Batten said that the Minister and the association were in agreement in believing that the soldiers should be settled again in civilian life as soon as possible. But experience had shown that the first thing to be .done to achieve this object was to bring the returned soldier to the right frame or mind to settle down, for it was a fact in the-experience of returned men that the mail just back from the front was not in a normal nervous and mental condition. In the clubs the returned men might meet other men who had already resumed their civilian lire. There was a common bond uniting these men, and only by association with such men could the man immediately returned from tho battlefield acquire the right frame of mind and get again the idea that the proper thing to do was to get back to his work. The members of the deputation were not asking these things for themselves, but for the men who had still to come back. Mr. H. Haycock traversed the statement reported to have been made by. the Minister in Palmerstnn to jthe effect that returned soldiers' clubs should be open to the public. The Minister said that he had never made the statement, and that he had never had such an idea. Mr. Haycock urged that the returned soldiers s 1 ould have a free right to raise money for tho purpose of establishing clubs, just as any other body of citizens would have such a Major Jlastriek tolw the-Minister of the plans for the erection of a club in Hamilton as a. memorial to the men who had fallen. Mr. D. Seymour said that the demilitarisation of returned soldiers, and their absorption into tho civil life or the community, went on all too automatically, and'his fear was that returned soldiers woiud forget all too 6OOU their responsibility to see that the welfare of their fcllcws was safeguarded. There was no danger of the returned soldiers existing as a pepar--ate section of the community. Those men who had been in regular employment 1 before they went to the war were only too glad to get back to their work as soon as possible. Mr. Batten suggested that the moneys raised Cor the Wellington Soldiers' Club had been just as economically raised and were just' as economically expended as those moneys raised for other allegedly patriotic objects, some of which he named. A Matter for Cabinet. Mr. Russell referred again to the account of his speech which, he said, had given rise to some misconception. He wished to say that the idea of making it compulsory for returned soldiers to admit the public to their clubs had never entered _ his head. With regard to the application made to him for permission to raise money for th« erection of clubs at Auckland nnd Dunedin, he had already informed the Mayors of those towns that he would not himsejf give a decision in the matter but wori'd ,toke the opinion of Cabinet npun it. This had reference to the scheme for raisins £50.000 at Auckland ami £20.000 at Dunedin. One of the points he had made when he was speaking at Palmerston, and also in his telegrams to the Mayors of Auckland and Dunedin, was that m his opinion men, should be restored to their civilian life as soon as possible. He was still strongly of that opinion. He had noted what Mr. Harper, had said when he emphasised the value of the clubs to this end. If he were satisfied that the clubs would have the effect of doing this by removing the feeling of isolation facing the soldier oir his arrival, he would be very glad. But it seemed to him that only a small minority of the men were so situated that they would be able to take advantage of the clubs. Better Objects? His second point on the question of the raising of the money for this purpose was as to whether it would not be possible for better objects to be found for the large sums of money which it was sought to raise. Two clubs vwore to cost £70,000; it might bo that in the course of a few weeks application would be made for other clubs, at a total expense of a quarter of a million. Would it not be hetter to use the money to assist the men who had come back, and who would yet come back, to get on to small sections of land suitable for fruit or poultry farms, or into small businesses? He was strongly in favour of using for these purposes the funds that had been collected for the benefit of returned soldiers, and ho would much rather see more money raised for these purposes than for the building of palatial clubs, which would cost huge sums to build, and would also be expensive to maintain. Tlte patriotic societies had in hand sums aggregating a million and a half, and in his opinion this should do xibc<? ta case the iot of t?te niefl returning wholly or partially disabled. In regard to clubs, ho would much prefer to seo them established in temporary premises, such as those now

occupied by tlie "Wellington Returned Soldiers' Chib. It would be wise to refrain from making appeals to the public except for the purpose of assisting men in need of assistance. The calls upon the people would be enormous in the course of the next five years. He was of opinion that the association had done invaluable work in assisting in tho repatriation of returning men, but lie thought that tho establishment of clubs was a matter that stood on a different footing. He suggested that the good work of tho association would not be materially affected if no large and expensive clubs were established.