HELP FOR SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 234, 27 June 1919, Page 7

HELP FOR SOLDIERS

DIFFICULTIES OF REPATRIATION

APPEAL BY GENERAL RICHARDSON

An appeal for sympathetic consideration of the needs of the returned soldiers during the repatriation period was'made by.' Brigadier-General G. S. Richardson iu the course of a speech before members of the New Zealand Club yesterday. General Richardson said he hoped' business men would try to understand the position of the returned soldiers,: and assist the men in a practical and sympathetic way to re-establish themselves in civil life. The soldiers had spent months ano years under conditions that were scarcely to be understood by people who ha«l not been at the front. They had lived in exceeding discomfort and under the daily menace of sudden 1 death. It was not surprising that they had learned to live in the' present, and, in other ways, to depart from the normal civilian altitude. The war had had a psychological eftm on the men, who'could not, be'expected to cast off at once the habits and impressions of the battlefield.

"You will find when you get them settled in civil life that they are better men for their war experience,'*' said General Richardson. "They'havo more knowledge, their outlook is wider, they have got a better knowledge of human nature and a better opinion of' each other. Men of all classes and occupations have worked and fought side by side, and they l.avo learned to esteem one another. They have developed a feeling of brotherhood. These men have fought, hoping that there was going to be a better world afterwords. They have hoped for better conditions than they enjoyed in the past. We have to ask-ourselves now—is the world belter and are the conditions better? Is what We have fought for being .realised? I ■think that if you had the same'feeling of brotherhood and mutual service between employers and employees as there is betwoen officers and'soldiors.-you would have the secret of how to succeed during the period of reconstruction. The soldiors have shown sthat they know how to die for their country. Now wo want everybody to live for the country. .That is the most' difficult job of all. If we are to do justice to the soldiers during this period of reconstruction, the business men and every other section of .the community will, have to- realise what the soldier has been through, 'orgive his delinquencies, and make some sacrifices for the men. who have made great sacrifices for the nation."

General Richardson added that the iren who had lost limbs were not the only disabled soldiers. There were many other men who looked fit, but who had been so shaken by their war experiences that they ought to be included among tlie disabled.. These men could not resume their old work at once. They could not be expected' to drop back immediately into normal civilian life.' The soldiers themselves, on the other nand, must remember that no man ever achieved success in life without work and sacrifice. There were some disabled :ntn who were already on: the road to success, bicauso they had worked. There wire a few men who were not doing the best for themselves, and it was their duty to make a better effort.