RETURNED SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 185, 1 May 1919, Page 6

RETURNED SOLDIERS

i γ-annoal MEETING IiLOCAL I ASSOCIATION ' I ■-■■■ THE LAND QUESTION '. The third annual general meeting of ; the Wellington Returned Soldiers', Asso-' I citaiou was held in the Concert Chamber I of the Town Hall last oveuing,-,there\be-I Ing an attendance of about 300 members. ! Mr. J. D. Harper, chairman of ;thp'oßsc- }• Diation, presided. ..-..-•. ( In moving the adoption of .the annual I report and-balance-sheet, the'chairman i lelerred to'the employment of women, ana ! ifter eulogising their work-during tlio ivar said that now that thousands of men ; .vere , returning Inany of the women would !, . have to..give ud their-positions. .If tho i ' women'were giving every satisfaction ana) ', . employers wished .to, retain their, services !. "tho Government would have to find work j for the returning soldiers. Tho speaker I ■, went on.to refer to the lack of apprecia. j tiou .by employers of tho effect of war !.-'■ service on returned- ,nien. Employers i should exercise considerable leniency for i . a few months and not be too harsh on i;. the men. Nevertheless, returned soldiers r had a duty to perform—they must get out ■ of khaki and settlo down as eoon as poa- }',. sible. It was the duty, of every man to do so. A great deal was heard about re- !' .-■ construction',: but one must realise that ! : the country had a.huge financial burden I ; to:get over, and increased ■ prbdiiction j ' was the only ■' loophole. There' was no ;•..- reason for any man. to be idle if he cliu > ' his duty. The , duty of the-returned men j''.' was the,matter of assisting their less ' ' fortunate comrades who were out of work.

-■"■The speaker next referred to the question of loyalty to the association. During the past year he had been asked a number of times "What good is tho association to me?" ,In the speaker's opinion . that was a very narrow spirit. The feeling at-the front was that each individual effort was for one common cause.) That should be the ideal of the association. "It wo carry on in that spirit wo will have a very creditable organisation." ■ Mr. C. W. Batten said that at the preBont. time thero were thousands of women in employment in Nefo Zealand. He did not favour the wholesale discharge of women in order to accommodate the returned men. Such a course would only relieve the situation temporarily, but should a, trade depression set in later there would be a recrudescence of 'he . employment of women. Many of the-iucri who had been placed in employment were not in the right jobs. He would like to eee the. association strongly urge the Government to immediately 'consider the .-'■" question of the reconstruction' of the country.' It had been done in England, and it could be done. here. The question , ■ should', be brought before the conference. (Applausej) x ■r Mr. G. W. Clinkard said it was a very big thing to say "reconstruct the country." Even suggesting the expansion of ;■: tli3 industries of the country was an enormous question, but he nevertheless agreed that the Government should be urged to take some immediate action to solve the problem of repatriation. The Government might institute State farms . for the purpose of preparing men to take up,', the land. ! ■ •-'.' Mr. Pascoe said that he did not think .the 1 Government would do much for the wdiers. "Take a lead like Auckland and get a hustle on. (Hear, hear.) There is something about the Wellington association that is lackadaisical." (A voice: "Sit on tho committee.") ,-

; • Mr. Hinde <lid not consider it a fair : . thin? that returned soldiers should be : flsketl to go airay into the bacTc-blocks to ; '. 'settle down. The association should take I;': ' step3.-to -force the hauds of the Govern- .: 'iuent on this.question. The soldier did I not. get the land he required. If he I . selected a, certain section the Land Board ! "promptly-turned him dojni and gave him ' ■ : something entirely unsuitable. ,-. i. . .- Another speaker stated- that conditions i. oh some of' the • sections, were appalI ling. When a soldier desired to settle ■ on the land the Government advanced him only. j!250, and with this he hnd to • build a home and all necessary outhouses, - whereas the man. in town got This i speaker did not consider that the assoeia- \ tion bad been asleep. It was doing good I.'- iirork. ..-..■■ ■;:.-■■ ■\ ":' : ;■. The Land Problem. r '' ■~ Mr. D. Seymour,. general-secretary of ;\ .-, the N.Z.R.S.A., said that h6,,was person--I'■ ' ally conyinped,that.the best thing forN, a returned soldier to do was to,get on L ' the land. He' mialihed this 'opinion by , etating that some men, either, through :'-,■ choice or fitness, must have-city employment, but a, large number of nien would ' .go on the land if they knew how to go ! about the matter. There were, one or two ! points regarding his advocacy of land for ; soldiers. I'lrst/ it' was the healthiest i '. life, and it was claimed by'eminent physij ■ ciantT that a pastoral occupation was wniI jiently suited for partially-disabled men. ;■•• In regard to tho second point, returned i . soldiers were, by,virtue of finding their j filled,,by/'the , menjvho,stayed at ; home," entitled to an equally good job. I On the basis of '"equity, the'returned men j ought to displace those Avho. remained be- !. hind. However, this-was difficult to do, i .'■• but tlie-returned man should bo -put into ' some job equal to the one,he would have ■ .had had he'stayed at home: That brought ! in the question of the land. There was .- ..only <\ .limited number of jobs to be : lilled in'the city. With the land it was L/ different. He was sorry that the associa- .. tion had never enunciated a land policy. ['■ ': One of the reasons was that it was a ditti- ;., cult problem. The bsst brains : possible h were required to deal -with the land j problem, which in his opinion was tho !".'' key of repatria'tion.' There was the ques- ■ tion'of coiiiiiiiliiications ami..facilities for ! ; comfortable living to consider'with the I~' land problem/ It'was riot a'fair .thing j.'.'- -."to ask ; a rri'an to isolate himself in the !■■ country'Tirider the present conditions. The j . Government had not grasped the'impnrt- ! ance of tlie land problem. It should I ,-'' 'the policy of the association in the inj"V '■ tereste of the country and the soldier to J put a mdximuni of returned .soldiers on J the land. First of all conditions would ! ■'■. Lave to.be improved, and when .this «as : ~. ■ done lie considered a satisfactory solution \ of'the land problem would have been i , -.--. reached.-'J-'lie association should immmedi- ' '■ ately establish a land bureau. ,Tlie Gov- (• ~ crriiiient,was not running after' soldiers ;-. ' to go on tho land, therefore tl(e associa- ! tion should do so. He trusted that the ' ■-' associations' conference would adopt the : policy of land bureaux. He favoured the j ; Appointment of a land 'officer to direct i the laud bureaux, but this officer would ■ . have to be conversant with every land j. problem. . The solution of repatriation was essentially 11 problem" for young men. !' The developments during the last' few J years presented problems beyond the

i grasp of older men, and that was oue of I the reasons why the present Government \ had failed to grasp these problems. Every. ! thins which existed prior td 1914 was now ] in the melting pot. Every brain should ■ be got thinking. "Thinking, and hard ;■ thinking, is what we want, , and no ine L. wants it more than the Government it- ' eelf," concluded the speaker., (Applause.) ■ 'l'Jie report and balance-sheet were i unanimously-adopted. i .Asa result of the foregoing discussion it was decided i to prepare special remits dealing with the land question for presen- | . tation at the association's annual confer- !•• cface.to be held at Christchurch. I'. . ' Other Business. i The election of officers for tho ensuing I year resulted as follows: Chairman, Mr. ! J. D. Harper (re-elected); vice-chairman, I Mr. It. J. P. Aldrich (re-elected); lon. i treasurer, Mr. D. A. Higgle (re-elected); [ < hon. solicitor, Mr. T. Neave.; hon. audij tors, Messrs. AVatktns, Hull, Huiit, and ' ■ Wheeler; committee, Messrs. W. J. Mor- ! path, - Wilkes,- V. -I , : Haughton, C. K. i ,Ga. c coigne, ,H. Lawson, — Morpenson, I'. • Bolilson, —■ Pascoo, ami ]). O ( . Lawrence. ! It was moved by Mr. Pascoe and ciu , - j ' ried that the incoming committee be inj etructed to form immediatoly a guild and i advertise for quotations from firms villi ing to give 1-ebiite.s on goods purchused to ■ » membera of the asaociation.

At this stage, 11.p.m., it was decided to adjourn the meeting till Wednesday next, when remits for the forthcoming Dominion C'onferjnce will be discussed.