AFTER THE WAR.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 28 June 1917, Page 3

AFTER THE WAR.

STATEMENT BY, THE ATTORNEYGENERAL.

THE problem of providing means for the employment of New Zealand soldiers when the war is over has for some time been receiving the earnest consideration of the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department. The Department, since its establishment in 1915, has by its effective system and organisation succeeded in placing in employment some hundreds of returned men who needed assistance to find work; but when peace comes, and thousands of men in a body come back to the Dominion every month, it is obvious great difficulties will confront the Department The question of how these difficulties would be met by the Goverment was the subject of a statement recently made by the Hon. Mr Herdman, with special reference to suggestions offered by the Returned. Soldiers' Association. In the course of his statement Mr Herdman, who administers the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department, said: — I have read, and at different] meetings listened with interest to, the criticisms and suggestions made by members of the Returned' Soldiers' Association upon the question of the employment of discharged men. The Discharged Soldiers' Information Department, having to find its way over unexplored territory without the aid of precedent, welcomes criticisms and suggestions. I agree that, if practicable, there should be one Minister only controlling and administering matters relating to returned soldiers, and such an arrangement will, I imagine, be made when the war is over and the I Minister of Defence is relieved of the arduous work of recruiting and training and despatching soldiers to the front. At present the Minister of Defence deals with the soldier whilst he is a soldier, and the War Pensions Department is under his control. \ The Hon. Mr Russell provides hospitals and curative treatment for the disabled man. The Minister of Lands settles soldiers on the Laud, and the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department finds the ex-soldier employment and willingly acts as his guide and friend by supplying him with information and by prosecuting inquiries for him. It is argued that if the various functions enumerated above were performed by one Minister organisation could be simplified, and the discharged soldier seeking relief would not, in his struggle for his rights, be cut off from the/object which he wishes to attain by ' red-tape ' entanglements, and his head would not grow dizzy in an attempt to master the meaning of the pile of bewildering literature thrust upon him by philanthropic and enthusiastic Government officials. lam sure that the proposal of the Returned Soldiers' Association is sound, and I hope that when the war is over the work now performed by officers of the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department will be continued by the Department to which it belongs; A BIG TASK I also agree with the gentlemen belonging to the Returned Soldiers' Association that the problem of making adequate provision for the large detachments of men that will return to New Zealand after the war is over is one of supreme difficulty. I wish to assure these gentlemen that a great deal of anxious thought has been devoted to this subject by the officers of the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department As far back as the beginning of December last a memorandum containing the details of what 1/ think is a practicable scheme was submitted by me to members of the Government for consideration. We can deal comfortably with small contingents of returning soldiers —so far up to the 24th May, 1917, 8,806 men have returned, and we have disposed of 6,882; included in the balance are men still in the Army, men in hospital, and men who have not been reported on—but we contemplate with a certain amount of alarm the position that will arise when peace ensues and men return not in hundreds but in thousands.

It is obvious that jt will be necessary to abandon (except in the case of disabled men) one feature of our present system—■ the personal interview. If men return at the rate of, say, five thousand per month it will be impossible to ascertain by direct personal interview in each case the personal' wishes of each man. [Concluded in next issue.]