RETURNED SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 171, 15 April 1921, Page 6

RETURNED SOLDIERS

THE PROBLEM OF EMPLOYMENT

CIRCULAR LETTER TO BUSINESS FIRMS A circular letter regarding employment for returned soldiers has been addressed to the heads of business firms in Wellington by the district repatriation officer (Mr. C. W. Batten). It reads as follows: —

"At the commencement of the Departments work we had occasion to address you on the subject of employment for soldiers. The response to our request was such as to enable the whole of the returning soldiers to become absorbed practically as they landed. Since that time 29,215 positions have been found for soldiers by the Department in the Dominion.

“Unfortunately, many of these positions were temporary, and with the possibility of a lack of employment this winter we again appeal to you to give this Department first call when vacancies occur in your staff. It should* be noted that many soldiers showed a fine spirit in taking any work offering rather than remain idle, and in many cases these positions were temporary and inferior to the pre-war positions held by these men. You will understand, therefore, that these soldiers have a' strong claim to the consideration of all of us, and that the Department is not appealing on behalf of a wandering class, but on behalf of men still endeavouring to re-establish themselves. "The splendid record of the return of the New Zealand Expeditoinary Force to civil life has been marred by a few individuals (generally of poor war service) who have desired to trade on the good name of the soldiers. These men we have as far as .possible written off' our books—it is the genuine man that we are concerned with."