RETURNED MEN

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 23, 22 October 1942, Page 6

RETURNED MEN

Treatment On Discharge

“If the feeling alleged exists it must be due to a misapprehension, said the Minister of - Defence, Mr. Jones, replying to an urgent question by Mr. Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga) ou the treatment of men discharged from the fighting services. Mr. Doidge asked whether the Minister was aware that a great deal of dismay and disappointment existed among soldieis returning from active service for the reasons that only permanently unfit men were classified as due for discharge, and that others were being turned adrift on leave without pay. It was the rule that only men were discharged who were found to be permanently unfit by a medical board, said Mr. Jones. Soldiers who did not come within this class were only granted leave without pay fffter their pension and other privileges had been determined. Men requiring hospital treatment were retained on full pay and allowances up to three months, this being followed by the usual -8 days sick and privilege leave. It was quite incorrect to suggest that the men were being turned adrift. Before they weie placed on leave without pay every care was taken to ensure that their pension or Social Security benefits were settleiu cases of men suffering from tuberculosis contracted before going into camp and where it had not been aggravated by military service, they were entitled to be dealt with under the Social Security Scheme.