The Dominion THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1919. PROVIDING FOR THE SOLDIER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 125, 20 February 1919, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1919. PROVIDING FOR THE SOLDIER

Anyone who scans the draft repatriation regulations as they are set out to-day will realise that a very heavy expenditure is entailed, not only in making just provision for soldiers and their dependants during the transition period, but in expenses of administration. The weekly grants to be made to soldiers and their families over a period of unemployment or fli supplementing a man's income while he is completing an apprenticeship or undergoing a.course of training with a. view to entering upon a new occupation are framed on a distinctly generous scale. No fault will be found with them on that account; on the contrary, the Government woultl have run directly counter to public sentiment liad it shown itself niggardly, in these matters. But when account is taken also of necessary expenditure in other, detail categories and of expenditure on District Boards and Local Committees, the total bill to be met_ promises to be somewhat staggering. Whatever outlay is legitimately, called for of course must cneerfjilly made. As a matter o| justice to soldiers and in the interests of real economy it is es/dtatial that the repatriation enterprise should be adequately financed. Precisely _because_ the occasion is one for unstinted liberality, however, iit is very necessary to guard i against anything in the shape of I extravagance, and the Government has perhaps shown itself less mi.nd- ! ful than'it should have been of this consideration in providing for the payment of board and committee members. In setting up the machinery of repatriation the tendency no doubt is to incur almost any expenditure which seems likely to securc results. The machinery will be needed only .for a comparatively limited period, but it is imperatively necessary that in that period it should work smoothly and without a hitch. It seems possible that in its anxiety to meet these conditions the Government has been betrayed into sanctioning payments to boards and committees which it will be difficult to justify or defend. There are four District Boards, each consisting of from ten to fourteen members. Each member is to be paid locomotion expenses, a guinea for every day on which he attends a meeting, and 10s._ for every night during which he is absent from' home on account of board business. Similar payments are to be paid to the members of as many of the Local Committees (fifty-three of these bodies' are being constituted meantime, but this number may be increased) as are provided by the Central Repatriation Board with an official secretary. In addition, District Boards, and Local Committees having an official secretary, are empowered, subject to the approval of the Central Board, to set up industrial committees, and the members of these latter bodies also are to be paid. Obviously, if the crop of committees of one kind and another is at all prolific and meetings are frequent the total outlay involved in payments to members will be enormous. It is, of course, right that those wlio serve on the boards and committees should be paid out-of-pocJzet expenses—this would meet the case of members who forfeit wages in order to attend meetings—but considering how many public-spirited citizens, men and women, have done honorary service .during the war period on such bodies as Patriotic Societies and War Relief Associations and in related activities, it should have been hardly necessary to carry the principle of payment further in the case of ordinary members of the boards and committees appointed to assist in administering the repatriation scheme. If payment on the scale proposed is necessary to attract members it is a question whether it would not have been better to dispense with boards and committees and leave the whole of the administration to officials and voluntary helpers. The Government, or the Repatriation Board, should at once givo some definite idea of the lengths to which these payments are likely to be carried. The proposals as they stand suggest that expenses of administration are likely to assume extravagant proportions and that largo sums may be lavished on advisory bodies which would be much better spent in directly benefiting soldiers and their dependants.

Apart from its administrative aspect, the scheme seems to be well thought out and its financial provisions .are- eommendably liberal. Ihe best feature of all is the full and generous allowance made for the benefit of soldiers who enter upon such a course of training as will fit them to tako up some congenial and remunerative occupation. Except in the case of the soldiers' settlement scheme, which, of course, must bo developed to the utthere does not seem to be any way_in which the Repatriation authorities can better pursue the object they are bound to keep constantly before them of giving the returned soldier every facility for taking at least as good a place in civil life, if possible a better place, than he left to go to the war. The outlay in providing free tuition and in supplementing the resources of soldiers and their dependants during the training period will no doubt be very considerable, but the money will be well spent if the results in giving returned men and their families a satisfactory foothold in life are as good as they seem liifely to be. It is to be considered also that judicious expenditure promoting the industrial or professional training or re-eduea-tion. of returned soldiers may lead to economies in other directions. It should materially assist, for instance, in reducing unemployment to a minimum. The Government is bound to make provision for returned men who are unable for'a timn to obtain employment, and the sustenance grants to be made in such cases c.re in keeping with the general liberality of the repatriation provisions. The payments are nearly twice as large as the "out-of-work donations" in force in Great Britain. In this country unentploy-

mcnt grants may be useful in exceptional cases, but if the repatriation scheme works well on the lines laid clown there ought to be very little unemployment. The demand for the services of fit men is lilcely indefinitely to excced the supply. For those who on account of physical disability or for other reasons

wish to qualify for some occupation other than that in which they were formerly engaged the training scheme seems to offer the widest facilities. Several of the provisions embodied in the regulations, notably that which authorises loans up to .£3OO to soldiers or the widows of soldiers who wish to set up in business, are already familiar. Some of the minor provisions must be read with the fact in mind that they are essentially supplementary. For instance, a loan of £50 to cover the cost of furniture is not in itself too liberal' for that purpose, but no thrifty returned soldier will be restricted to the amount of this loan in setting up house. Many men will have fairly substantial sums to collect as deferred pay, and all are to receive gratuities proportional to length of service. a whole the provision made in New Zealand on behalf of returned soldiers makes a creditable showing and no doubt will compare favourably with what is being done in this way in other countries. But it is still very necessary to concentrate earnestly on the problems of adminstration, and the Government would certainly be wise., in this connection, to carefully reconsider the proposals relating to the payment of boards and committees. As the regulations stand there seems to be a serious Sanger that administrative expenses may exceed all bounds. Apart from considerations of economy, this would not conduce to the high pitch oi efficiency which must be aimed at in administering. the repatriation scheme.