The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28. 1915

Horowhenua Chronicle, 29 December 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28. 1915

PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES' CONFERENCE. lllie official rqport on the conference of the Patriotic Societies of New Zealand, held in Wellington last month, has been sent to us by the Government Printer. It is a lengthy document, comprising .ihventy-nine foolscap pages of clpsely-printed matter. In a future issue we will reprint the gist of . the resolutions arrived at, and in today's paper we givo some inter-, esting extracts from the report on the debates that took place.

Mr Oooko (Pahnerston North) referred to the question of the wounded New Zealand soldiers located in England. A lady well known in New Zealand and now at Homo, and who took great interest in the matter, had stated that their oondition was not. satisfactory, and till© men were not ibeing properly attendied to. He understood the reason was that monev which was going Home to England was allocated by the High Commissioner. But was the High Oomniifsioncr made aware of the position of the wounded P The lady in question Btated that out of the Inst £10.000 sent Home £90,000 was sent to the Walton Park Hospital, which contained 'about from a hundred to two hundred beds—llo was- the figure quoted, but it might bo wrong. The other £1,000 wins handed to the visiting committee of ladies in England, who had eomo three thousand oases to attend to. The wounded on arrival in England were sent to hospitals in all sorts of places 'where they did not get proper attention; (they were short of olothing, cigarettes, andi tobacco. That remiark did not apply to the bigger hospitals. Generally, some one was wanted to look after " the whole matter on a proper system; and the suggestion was that private people could attend to it muesli better than one central authority, as the Hon. Mr. Myers suggested.

The Government aocepts the respon sibility aa far as possible for the restoration to mental and physical health of every returned soldier, m eluding hip transit to hospital or con valoscont oamp, and his return therefrom to his home. It is not considered diesirdble to etJtablifih minor com valescent homes, and fciiereloro many patriotic offers of suitable places have been declined. It is, ol course, open io Patriotic Committees to establish J theso,'in which' case they will acoepi the full financial responsibility for *tjh«m. The Government proposes to ©staiblieh two large con valescent camps'in the Dominion, to be attached to thermal springs, the curative value of which has been largely provod 'both in Greet Britain and on the Continent during the present -war. These camps will be at Rofcorua in th« JS'orth Island and .i±ammer in tho South Island. The object ot concentrating the men is to have ait hand full medical and nursing staffs, masseurs, andi complete equipment to a Mist wounded and diabled men back to health. Military officers will be .placed in charge of these establishments, and the men be under discipline. .Mr. Gray (South Canterbury) asked if the Department intended to allow-a returned soldier under orders to disobey instructions. Hon. the Chairman said that there were 6ome cases where the matter was put in suoh a way that it Was ertreme'y diffioult to insist on strict obedience. Personally, lie would be inclined to adopt the lane of the questioner, and insist on every man going where be was told. But the Minister of De fence luad to be oonsulted in this oon • nection,'..and-he might not talce that view. . The Hon. Mr. flerdraan said, "As to financial assistance, the function of my- Department is to get employment". for the men, but no. doubt cases Trill ooime under the notice of my iDepartjment in • which monetary assistance w& be required. As each case arises Its ciroumstancea will be i

ponsidered, and if necessary an appeal wr help will lie made to"the organization upon which the man appears to lia.o a claim." JS r o resolution was necessary in regard to that clause, but he asked the Conference simply to atfirm the principle that m such- oases the Patriotic Committees would consider favourably the request ot the Minister. Mr Masters (Stratford) eaid) there was a case in Stratford at the present time of & man who had lost an arim. He could obtain a position there at £3 a week, but could not take it because he had not his discharge. Could not the discharge be obtained so that the man could take the employment olfe|red him? Hon. Mr. Allen stated that there was no difficulty in the soldier getting his discharge from the Defence Department if he wanted, it; he was only being kept on pay until ho had recovered, and as soon as ne was discharged the pay stopped. Mr Mastors had brought the case forward at the request of the dairy factories, as the question of the employment of labour was involved. This man could get work if he had his discharge. Hon. Mr. Herdman: Let me know about the case.

Dr. Valintine (Inspector-General ot Hospitals) said: he was under the, impression that the meeting thought the provision of artificial limbs for maimed soldiers would be a very considerable -responsibility; but a outt'ng lie bad from a. Homo paper showed that a question was asked- on tlifs very subjoot in the House of Commons about three months ago, and it transpired that only 872 limbs had been lost at that time in. both tlie" -French and the English Armies. He. had been very much astonished at these figures. Thoy showed that the, provision of these artificial limbs would, not ho such a very great responsibility for the Patriotic Committees. He desired, further, to say this—and Jh> spoke with a good deal of knowledge on the subject, having, unfortunately, an artificial limb himself: lie thought it would be well for the Patriotic -Committees to take considerable interest in providing the men of their district with artificial limbs, because if the worlr were done entirely by a centlraJ Department the men might not get quite the attention and the class of limibs that was necessary. The Committees should certainly take some part in the provision of the limbs and apparatus. Mr ' Williams (Cliristchurch) movedi, That it is considered desirable that the Patriotic Societies in the various districts should (be affiliated, so that the're should be uniformity of action throughout the Dominion and each Committee should know what is being done by th'--other Committees. tie did not at that stage propose to go any further. A scheme embodying the same principle was considered; by a conference on the 29th July, and was brought into such a shape that it could very well have been accepted by all the Patriotic Committees, but it was not. The essence of that scheme was that levies should be and the solvent funds used tofi§upplement those that had been depleted. For i-.

stance, if a district had sent a large ntimber of men to the war, but was not in a position to establish a very strong fund;, the idea was to make a levy 011 the richer fund of another district to assist the poorer one. Perhaps if a more simply-worded scheme 011 similar lines were brought up again it might be made acceptable to all. One of the difficulties was that it w'w very long, but it was carefully drafted by a very able lawyer mid he (Mr. Williams) thought it woikj hnvo been Acceptable Mr Holland (Ohristohurch) seconded the motion with much pleasure. He was sorry that their past labours on the subject had apparently toiled:, and it was possibly owing to the wording of the last scheme that is fell through ; bufc sooner or later some such proposal had to como about. The motion was agreed to.