REPATRIATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 205, 18 May 1918, Page 6

REPATRIATION

Tub claim of the returned soldier

to all possible assistance in resuming his place in civil life under satisfactory conditions is universally recognised, hut it is pretty clear that some features of the repatriation policy thus far evolved in this country, call for improvement and reform. Also thaMhe policy as a whole must be considerably extended and developed with, little loss of time if jusfcicc is to bo done to the soldiers who will return iu increasing numbers from the front. In its efforts to stimulate the Government to activity on these lines, the Returned Soldiers' ■ Association deserves and should receive general sympathy and support. The remits rclatin? to re flitriation which were approved at a meeting of the local branch of the association on Thursday niflht for submission to a national conference to be held shortly at Auckland are, in the main, both reasonable i and practical in tone. The principal proposal advanced— that a Minister of Repatriation should be appointed—has much to recommend it.. Such an appointment would make for efficient co-or-dination of the various activities undertaken on behalf of returned soldiers and alro for a better and closer supervision of these activities than is attempted at present. A Minister of Repatriation would be, or should be, in a position to deal promptly with grievances which' in the existing conditions of divided authority are liable sometimes to bo overlooked. Invested with reasonably comprehensive powers, he certainly ought to be able to prevent the recurrence of such a state of affairs as is reported to have arisen in some of the soldier settlements. Ministerial statements regarding these settlements ha re been uniformly optimistic in tone, and have gone to show_ that in general the returned soldiers provided with country holdings are working under satisfactory conditions and with assured prospects of becoming successful farmers. No doubt these optimistic accounts are in many cases qnite warranted, but it seems .to Je cleaj also that serious mistakes have been made, and that in some cases sol-: diers have been settled on unsuitable holdings in conditions of which they have every reason to complain.. Recently we, published a letter from a sold.icr-scttlcr on one of the Main Trunk blocks, who entered a strong and apparently well-grounded protest against tho conditions in which he and several other returned men were established as dairy farmers. This particular settler had been in possession of his holding for cfght .months when hi wrote, but, although his own and his neighbours' sections had been weighted to cover the cost of roads and water supply, a number of them were still waiting for an adequate water supply, and some had no better outlet from their sections than an old track with a grado of 1 in 10, and in places 1 in 5. How far this deplorable state of affairs has since been remedied we do not know, but the fact that it was permitted to arise shows plainly that the administration of soldier-settlements stands in need of overhauling As an example of what is possible under existing methods the case of this settlement j distinctly supports the contention of | the Returned Soldiers' Association that existing conditions of soldiersettlement call for inquiry and reform.

| Though the settlement of soldiers | on the land is only one of a series :of activities which must le develloped under a repatriation policy, i the circumstances : touched upon I serve to indicate the useful work ! that might be performed by a MinjisLer of Repatriation. It must alj ways be the business of the Lands S Department to open land for si.ttlejmeut, but it is obviously desirablo that there should be a ; Minister j charged'with the duty of determinjing, under expert advice, which | holdings and settlements of those i made available by the Lands Deipartment are suitable for cecupa- | tion by returned soldiers. Only the ' neglect of this elementary necessity i marie it possible to settle returned ; soldiers under such conditions as wc jbave mentioned.. At a wider view it would bo the duty of the Minister of Repatriation and his officials to supervise all activities on behalf of returned soldiers, to co-ordinate the activities of the various DepartI ments concerned, and to. prepare comprehensive measures for the restoration to civil life of the very large number of soldiers who will return to the ..Dominion when the war comes to an end. The need of correcting such defects and shortcomings as have appeared is, of course, .strongly emphasised by the fact that demobilisation will in the not very distant future impose a much more severe strain upon the machinery of repatriation than it lias yet been called upon to bear. Plainly as this viced appears, the phrasing of the remit iu_ which the Returned Soldiers' Association r.:-l;S for the appointment of a Minister of Repatriation seems to unduly depredate what the Government has already done on behalf of returned soldier's. It states that I he Minis* ter's chief duty would be "to create a Department and control sueli for the purpofee of bringing back our manhood to normal civilian condition."' As a matter of fact, the Discharged Soldiers lnforMiatinn Department represents at leas.- an excellent nucleus and foundation for a Repatriation Department. In its working scope as taking methodical account of all soldiers ictuincd tu the Dominion and in many ways facilitating their return to civil life the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department has done work of

such breadth and usefulness as m belie its limited title. Many detail activities in the interest:- of returned soldiers have also been well carried out, and the Government has shown foresight in providing for an augmented Public Works expenditure jn the demobilisation period and in other ways. But it is very necessary in the interests of efficient co-ordination and in order that a sufficiently, broad and enterprising repatriation policy may be framed that authority should be centralised by the appointment of a Minister who would make all questions of repatriation his special, care.