REPATRIATION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 5, 1 October 1918, Page 7

REPATRIATION

DISCUSSED BY MINISTERS

SIR JAMES ALLEN'S SCHEME

Some aspects of the repatriation problem were mentioned by tne Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) at the annual meeting of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Club-house Society last night. The Hon. A.. M. -Myers (Minister of Munitions) and the Hon. 1). li. Guthrio (Minister of Lands end Minister in charge of tho Discharged Soldiers' Department) were also pre-r sent, and referred in brief speeches to repatriation. Sir James Allen said ho felt that the club deserved the generous support of the Wellington people. The returned soldiers' clubs were doing very valuablo work in connection with .repatriation, and so long as they wero run uppon sound lines they would receive all the assistance that the Government could give them. Hp felt himself that tho orernment'would need the aid of the soldiers' organisations in dealing with the problems of repatriation, present and future. There wero a few returned men who did not readily find their way back into civilian life, and the club could help to guido these men in the right direction by giving them friendly counsel and a noccasional directing hand. The treatment of returned soldiers, said the Minister, was by no means an easy or a simpTe matter. Many of the men had been wounded and maimed, and they could not turn in their present conditions to their old occupations. Soma of them were not at oneo ready for any occupation at all. Medical experts wore showing the Government how improvements could bo effected in tho oi-lhopacdic treatment of injured mwi.' A complete orthopaedic unit would reach New Zealand within a week, and would bs stationed at Christchnrch, where ii> would proceed to give treatment to returned men on the most modern lines. The treatmont of the neurasthenic soldier was a matter of great linportanco and also of extreme dil.iculty. The medical experts themselves had not learned all that there was to learn about the treatmont of men suffering from shell-shook and other nervous disorders. They were accumulating experience and were able to devise .improved methods from time to time. But finality Iliad not been reached. J. ho patients might bo injured by being treated too indulgently, and also by being treated with undue harshness. The happy mean was not easy to dis-

cover. , , Apart from tho care of tho men who required special treatment of cno kind or another, there was the broad aspect of repatriation. The- men had to be returned to useful civilian, occupations. The people of New Zealand, ho believed, were-intensely proud of the part their men had played in the great events of recent weeks on the West front. When the. history of New Zealand's share m tho war'came to he written in lml, tho tale would thrill tho people of the Dominion. Tho men had done their duty to the.utmost, and the nation had to see to it tliat when they camo back fliey were able to resume then; civilian life under advantageous It had been his own business ever since the war began to study the repatriation problem and learn what other countries were doing towards its solution. Other Ministers had given their attention also ..to the mater. Sir James Allen mentioned the arrangements that have been made, and are being made for the training of partially disabled men in new occupations here and in England, and for the education of the soldiers generally. He said that provision was to be made for continuing the instruction aboard returning transports, and for amplifying it after the men reached New Zealairl. This was. work for the Defence Department,, which had control of the men until the time of their discharge. Steps had been taken already to provide for the training and education of invalided men at Rotorua and Haniner, Mid in this connection he wished to express his appreciation of tho splendid assistance that had been given by the New Zealand branch of the lied Cross Society. Jt had been said by some people that there should.be a Minister of Repatriation. He had , studied tTie repatriation schemes of Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, and the United States as tfar as. thoy were available, and he had found that tho same difficultly existed overywhei'e. Repatriation was a problem that touched many Departments of State, and it would be exceedingly difficult to coordinate them. But it should be possible to arrange for them to work together in a way that would serve the interests of tho soldiers. Tho experience that had been gained already showed the advisableness of avoiding hasty actiou. The fuller iirforniation that was becoming available was showing that many of the'opinions held at earlier stages of'the war would have t , be revised.

In coiiolusipn, Sir James Allen said that tho country would want tlio very best service that could be got.from the returned soldiers in the years to come. A great battle- had to be fought after tho conclusion pf peace. The battle that would decide what position New Zealand should tnlco in the world In tho future, commercially, morally and physically, would be a very difficult battle to win. If the soldiers helped to create a strong nation, healthy in every respect, they would be continuing after the war the splendid woric that they had done so nobly on the battlefields of the Old World.

Tho Hon. A. M. Myers suggested that the Government had need of a Department of Propaganda, in order that the public might ba made aware of tho work that bad actually been done in connection with repatriation and many other matters of concern to tho io'diera. Every member of tho Ministry was earnestly desirous of making effective provision for repatriation, and bo did not think any man in New Zealand had devoted as much time and attention to the subject as the Mmht»r of Defence liad done. Sir Jamos Allen had been working morning, noon and night in order that he might tiihmib to his colleagues a satisfactory solution of the repatriation problem. Tho people of the Dominion ought ';o understand that repatriation was a natter of deep concern to every one of them. New Zealand would have a rational debt of about £iSG,OOO.OOO l.y the end of March next, and thn additional annual charge for interest and sinking fund on account of ,var expenditure would be not less than £3,300,000. Pensions would bring the war._ burden up to £4,800,000 a year. This' was a huge charge for the Dominion to bear, but there would be no difficulty about finding tho money and nt tlio same time doing full justice to the soldiers if a sano and vigorous policy of national development wore adopted. Tlio Hon. D. M. G'uthrio said that tho Ministers were whole-hearted in their desire to do lull justice to the soldiers. Ho believed that the repatriation Kcliomo that Sir James Allen was elaborating would prove acceptable, to tho public, and would overcome to a very great degrco the difficulties that were in, the way. Mr. Guthrio added 'that his own Department dealt witli tho soldiers after their discharge, and he did not think that tho public realised tlio full extent of the work that had been done. Moro than £1,000,000 had boon spent on laud for soldiers' sottleincnts, £500,000 had been used to make advances to tho men and assist them to get on the land, and over £100,000 had been, spent providing homes for returned men who'

wished to take up occupations in the towns. Over iJO.OUO lm-ii bad boon returned to New Zealand, and of these tho Discharged Soldiers' Jiiiormaliuii Department had lost tho run of only 189. This Ir'act illustrated the care that was taken to watch tho interests of returned im-n. lie did i:ot think that any one Department, could handle the repatriation question. Tho Lands Department, tlio Agricultural Department, tiio Dcfcuce Department, the Trade and Commerce Department, and tho Education Department were ill concerned. They would have to work together. The scheme of repatriation that Sir James Allen was producing would put the matter oft a thoroughly sitiind basis.