LEGACY OF WAR

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 139, 9 December 1929, Page 12

LEGACY OF WAR

WORK FOR EX-SOLDIERS

RETURNED MEN'S ADVICE

TO-DAY'S EVIDENCE

The problems to be faced in providing suitable work for ex-soldiers in leeeipt of economic pensions were further ventilated "to-day when the Soldiers' Bohabilitation Commission resumed its sitting. Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M., presided. Tho other members of the Commission are Sir John Luke and Mr. S. J. Harrison. To-day, the Commission. . heard evidenco submited by the South. African War Veterans' As•oeiation and the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association.

The establishment of farm settlements was suggested by Major P. de B Brandon, president of the Wellington branch, of the Soutli African War .Veterans' Association and a member of the executive of the Dominion South African Association. If a settlement were established in the Nelson district, he said, the men could be put to the following occupations: Farming bees, pigs, poultry, rabbits, tobacco, fruit and vegetable growing, and on a larger scale sheep and dairy cattle. A large block of land would have to be acquired. Different .workshops would be required for making hives for bees, Ijpxes for fruit, poultry, tobacco, butter, eggs, etc. Basket making for carTying fruit, strawberries, eggs, etc., and bootmaking could also be added. Any surplus of baskets and boxes could be sold. Married men. could be provided on the estate with, cottages, for .•which a small rental (equal to Interest oil outlay) should be charged. Single men could live in a hostel and be charged a small boarding rate, or be provided with small huts and one large dining-room. The charge for the huts, etc., would be only interest on outlay. Only "veterans, other than a supervisor and manager, need be- employed on the estate. All veterans could be paid a small advance of money weekly, and "be shareholders as far as the profits of the estate were «oncerned. At the end of each twelve months each sharoholder would receive his share. There would be no interference with trade •union wages, as each man would be a shareholder in the profits. The salaries of the supervisor and tho manager should be paid by the Government. An honorary board consisting of three members with a paid secretary could lac set up to handle all accounts and supervise finance generally.

HOMES NOT POPULAR.

"In my opinion- what the majority vS men. require is work they can take some interest in, and in the above suggestion there ■would be interesting work for all," he said. "I do not believe in subsidised wages, as they tend to lower the man's interest to work his full share. I do not believo in veterans' homes, as they are not popular to the men. What the majority of men require is work that they can do and take an. interest in, and at the same time have a share in the profits. It is impossible to expect private employers to engage many of the men even when their wages are subsidised, which is not good for the men themselves, or for the men they are working with. In the case of incapacity due to x>rematuro ageing, a. lowering of the age at "Which the old age pension becomes due should be made.

GOVERNMENT POSITIONS. That greater preference should bo

given to esTService men—more particularly to South African war veterans in Government positions, such as orderlies,'liftmen, cleaners, messengers, was the opinion.expressed by Mr. J. L Goldsmith, hon. secretary of the South African War Veterans' Association. He believed that Mr. Seddon, when he was Prime Minister, placed on the Statute Book an amendment providing that South Africans should be employed in the above positions during the Parliamentary sessions (Maori war veterans taking precedence), but unfortunately the legislation was not given effect to. Mr, Goldsmith said that men should also be considered who had served in the Imperial Forces, or men who had served in any Dominion force. He suggested that a report should be procured from the Government of South Africa as farm or village settlements were established in South Africa after the South African war by the Government cf the day.

A comparison between the meagre treatment afforded to South African

yeterans, as against the just and equitable treatment afforded to soldiers of

the Maori and Great "Wars, was drawn by Captain J. J. Clark, Dominion president of the South African War Veterans' Association. He asked the Com-

mission to recommend:—(l) That all South African war veterans attested in 3Sew Zealand, on reaching tho age of 65 years, be granted a pension afc the same rate as veterans of the Maori war; or, in tho event of permanent disability at 60 years; (2) that a sufficient sum of money be made available to make advances to South African war veterans attested in New Zealand on the lines of the D.S.S. Act; (3) that a suffltient sum of money be granted annually to the association to enable grants to be Blade to members in necessitous circumstances who by reason of non-attesta-tion in_ New Zealand would be unable to receive the benefits under clauses 1 and; 2.

MOKE CASES IN WELLINGTON.

In. placing before the Commission ?iews ou behalf of the .Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association, Major T. "Watson, the secretary, said that "Wellington had to deal with more cases than the other large centres by reason of Wellington's geographical position. He was quite certain that a large number of business firms could and ■would give ■ employment to returned men who were not able to work full time, and it appeared that the setting up ox an employment bureau in each of the four main centres waa very desirable. . . There would be ample work for an official who would act as Unemployment Officer and generally look after the rehabilitation of returned men in the particular centre for -which he was appointed. The men with, whom Ms association dealt he placed in the following categories:—(l) The casual worker who, even before the war, was ' a casual, and always would be; (2) the man who was a willing worker and wanted constant work, but from tho fact that he had a war disability and could only do light work found it almost impossible to secure work with private business firms; (3) the man who was now incapacitated but whose disability was not accepted as being due to war service, and consequently was not in receipt of a war pension; (4) the man who was unemployable to a largo degree from the fact that owing to his own faults and actions ho could not bo recommended for any job; (5) the T.B. man. The number of eases in categories (2) and (3) was increasing, and he thought the Government could do more than it had done for those classes of men. He suggested positions as liftmen, messengers, itightwatchmen. For tho men in categories (4) and (5) he suggested farm colonies. He was of opinion that the time was premature Vat least so far as men who served in the Great War were concerned) for the establishment of veterans' homes. !F«t some years the majority of men » th© categories named could be car--tha-beta o| -the W_a» Belief

Association and the Returned Soldiers' Association, but, as he had already stated, there was a certain percentage who would undoubtedly be very much better off in a home or farm colony, where from the fact that they would be required to work their economic value to tho country would .be, greatly enhaneeiJj "ILji^i.. ■''^ " •