Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY. DECEMBER 11th, 1917. REPATRIATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 December 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star TUESDAY. DECEMBER 11th, 1917. REPATRIATION.

Inis war has already caused a revolution. Men and women think differently, and have a sense of power. This

sp"; inlly applies to those who have (<>i • lit and handled weapons of extraordinary power and offensive strength, ft applies much less t<> those who have iived throughout the war in shelter aid comfort, with their mind s elated by patriotism,' hut untouched by the new •pint.. Such include most of the .vealthy,. the landowners, the dwellers n peaceful countrysides, and the many great profits out of the war, and have predatory instincts in full swing. What, then, is coming (asks an English correspondent of the Sydney “Sun”)? Nothing unreasonable—only a demand for a' better and cleaner State, with a better and cleaner chance for every man and woman to live and develop undef 1 good and clean conditions. The men will want more money, They will want freedom. They will particularly want more land, for it is the open life in open air at farming or pastoral permits that will particularly appeal to them. Hundreds of thousands will ache, if they do go hack to desk and workshop for the healthier, free life, more akin to their long open life as soldiers. That is one side. It is final, and cannot lie disputed. The other is that this country and its Dominions have been re-horn. Those in leadership may not know it yet', but the people have been re-born. And they know that they cannot survive in the competition of nations and races, so rudely thrust by, the war into their easy lives, without drastic changes, designed’ changes, designed to bring out the best in the British race and make it • strong and powerful. Thus from, the economic and national points of view there must he changes in laud syste-ms Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and their families must be put on the land. Only thus will they be satisfied, only thus will we got our productivity increased and our war hills met. Only thus will we get a sturdier race, capable of I fighting the battles of the future. Before the war this country was in the awful position of a country exporting men. What country can afford to train rear, educate men and women, and then send them out to be citizens of some foreign Power? What country can afford to import a largo percentage of its food in these days of submarines? No country that intends to he free. Abroad iu Australia and Canada there are great tracts of rich land requirng only men and capital. Both must be found or these, lands will go. For it is an unbending law of history that those lands which are not populat-

ed shall be soured by those peoples .who can populate them. Nature cries out always for more life-. , | Repatriation has been taken up keenly in Australia for some time and a very active Government Department is working out the problems confronting the nation there. New Zealand is only waking up to the situation now, though the effort lias boon made to put soldiers on the land in some places, but the duty to discharge was not shouldered a s it should be. However, a report on the repatriations of soldiers was placed before the Advisory Board of the- New Zealand Patriotic Societies by the Land Committee, which had bold a special meeting to consider the subject. The committee had adopted the following, resolutions: (1) That for tSio. purpose of acquiring land for settlement bv returned soldiers .three fanners in each land district should be appointed on the Land Purchase Board, with voting powers in so far as the lands in their respective districts are conernod. (2) That in order to repatriate sol-, diers it is essential to create immediately a Repatriation Department, and that an advisory board consisting of export civilians and returned soldiers should be associated with such Department.

The committee was of opinion that a deputation representing the Advisory Board should wait upon the National Efficiency Board in order to. ask for its co-operation in urging t.lie Government to give effect to the resolutions. The committee considerd that as soon asthe Repatriation Department had been formed all matters with relation to the repatriation of soldiers should be sent direct to the Department. The Chairman said ®t seemed to the committee that the association of local exports with the Land Purchase Board in each district was very important indeed.. Already mistakes had been made and it obviously wa s in the interests of the soldiers that the best available knowledge should be applied to the selction of land for their use The Board had already urged the Government to create a Repatriation Department, in order that there might be no divison of responsiblity as far as the returned soldiers was concerned. At present several Departments had dealings with him. The board adopted the resolutions and decided to place them before the Efficiency Board. Later in the day a deputation representing the Advisory Board waited upon the Efficiency Board and asked for assistance in urging the Government to create a Repatriation Department. From this beginning it is to be hoped a more definite line of action will bo pursued in the matter of providing land for soldiers.