RETURNED SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 60, 5 December 1918, Page 7

RETURNED SOLDIERS

PHASES'- OF DEMOBILISATION. A inemorandura. legarding the organisation and opocations of.the. DUcliiirgea Soldiers' Information . Department was presented to Parliament yesterday. The provision made by the. Department for this' returned men is described at some length. ..Mention is made of the tiaining of returned nwi) at technical schools, on farms, in workshops, factories, and clse■where. , . ' , . '' "\Vhen demobilisation coiniiionces and the'men returning monthly are numbered by thousands instead of Hundreds," says the report, "it is clear that the Department's practice of.. personally interviewing each.soldier at his home mu>t be. abandoned, ; We shall continue that '.practice in the caso of invalids,, but. with the able-bodied men returning lit the rate.of several thousands per. month it will be entirely impractiuable.. The course which, it is proposed to follow is for the representatives of the Department to .meet each transport on arrival, as at present, and hand every soldier u printed letter, , To avoid the possibility, •of any soldier being missed.it' is proposed, where no reply is received after a reasonable.interval, to. send a second , communication. - '.'f this' 1 also elicits no reply the. matter will not be .pursued further;'but the Department will always be happy to reopen the. subject if later on the soldier asks 'for assistance.

■ "The matter of the renbsorption of the thousands of men in civil life and demobilisation will-throw a groat deal of work on to our local committees, ft is proposed to strengthen these committees'so as'to include; •e.presentatives of labour, employers, returned soldiers, and other sections of the community. In the menntinie. we hnve lwe;i ffiituinet ■ experience in the'mutter of seiilim; thc?o men, for up to date we have dealt with 24,556. disrtblod soldiers. Of this number about 3000 have not. yet been discharged and 19,582 have lieen disnnsied of. and bur experience has bocn 'that only a small proportion has renuired the. direct assistance, (if the Departmonl. It is anticipated, therefore, that «n deuiobilisatioii, tin; niPii being iit mid ah\ebodied, only a small pcrcenta.se will require assishmce to 'e;tle down. The early days of demobilisation will involve the disbundment of ■thousands nf nic-uin (•limn and on board tr.mspnrr* in or war New Zealand waters. and it is anticipated that the difficulty iii dralin? with the first batches will be mitigated by the fact that many of them will only iTCSJiII.r have left their old work, and the general shortage of labour will provide numerous openings for men who will be in robust health and whoso employment will not present the difficulties which surround invalided nipn. "Dis'.inguislud ' economists in England stain that they | are confulpiit that in most indusl'vics there will b" plenty of unnloyinent iiltcr the war. However, the Government U considering different proposal* for eophiT with the genuine cu.«i ,e of uuenipbiynidiil: thnt arc Ixiuutl to arise. Inter «u. Kefeliim; to tin' , pmvisinn iinp'nvineii.l: on (lie jerminiitiun of the \-ar. Hip report gives Ilin follnwi'ij; siimn'ttry of ni'ovisions whioi' hnve been nind" , :—fa) The Minister of Finance, has anHiorised I>>- Parli.inn-iit to iai-e :i -m» vnt pxcopdintf jCUIfIfI.IWD for publir works Undertaken bv tlie Govei'iunent with a view to providing omilovnicnt for discliargwl sold'fi , --.' 'bl r,e'.'iil;'lio» has been passed In , Pai-linriionl 'iinolif.v'n; Hip procedure in the cn>e of Iccn' lmili"s desiring lo undertake similar works with the same object, and. subject, to nci'es-F-tiry prccaution.s, the Slate .Advances Department is empowered fo ndvauce the nccessiiry money, (c) Tlie. I'loveruincnt Unpartinents chielly concerned in Ihe employnionl of labour have fonnulatpil schemes _of. public works which can be put in hand at the shortest notice. Including R'aliwrutimi of at pi-pspnl absent nl Ihe war. Ih" T!»ilway Beiiiirtii" , "!; eslinmtos it will h:\ abl" lo ''emplnv fiS'ifl men, tl'p land l ! ; ""' Purvey 'Oenaiinioiit n little nv"r :i«nil ini'ii, 'aiiiM-l'fi Public Works neivvlnieiil I between. .WiO 'nnd BOfld men—"nkui't a totnl of between It.tlOfl and I'l.fllW iuph.