RETURNED SOLDIERS' ASSOCIATION.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 16 October 1919, Page 3

RETURNED SOLDIERS' ASSOCIATION.

ORGANISER'S VISIT

The organiser of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association, * Mr W. Pollock, visited this disduring last week, and addressed meetings of returned soldiers and the general public at Waimauku, Helensville, and Kaukapakapa. A good deal of ~ interest ■> was taken in these ad"7 dresses, and in each place the "' speaker was most attentively listened to. Mr Pollock, in rfis address, dealt with a variety of subjects affecting the returned man, embracing such matters as land

purchase and settlement, penyssions, medical treatment, etc. i^ He claimed that the Association's existence had been fully justified, in view of the many grievances that had been looked into and adjusted by that organisation. The returned soldier, if he wanted anything out of the Government, had to fight to get it, and the R.S.A.'s business was to help every man to get his just dues, now that he had returned. The speaker stated that the general opinion among members was that, while the laws affecting the returned soldier were for the most part beneficial and wise, the administration of the said laws was V not good. Departments with which the soldier came in contact were, in many cases, in charge of officials who had neither sympathy for or interest in him, and it was the Association's business to have reforms brought about and grievances redressedr-

LAND SETTLEMENT

Mr Pollock had a number of interesting things to say about land settlement. He condemned the purchase of highly improved, expensive properties, and instanced the case of a Northern property which the Government bought at a high price and threw open to soldiers. Over £25,000 worth of this land had not been taken up. The Association had been instrumental in securing : — (1) An increase of the grant for stock and equipment from £500 to £750 ; (2) the reduction of the option required for the Government purchase of property from three months to one month ; (3) the reduction of the valuation fee charged ; (4) free railway passes to b.ona fide land settlers ; (5) the appointment of inspectors to returned soldier settlements ; (6) the enlarging of the land boards ; (7) the acceleration of valuations; and (8) a large number of other reforms incidental to land settlement. In addition it had promulgated a general laud settlement policy and also a scheme for the settlement of unimproved bush and -Swamp lands.

MEDICAL, TREATMENT.

The R.S.A. has felt that the closest attention and criticism must be given to the whole of the machinery concerned with the medical treatment of the returned soldier, and takes the view that the incapacitated rqan and his dependants should be its primary care. The speaker stated that it was manifestly unfair that a man suffering from war disabilities, especially shell shook, should be s examined by a civilian doctor, who1 had power to pronounce whether such man was entitled to a pension or not. Only medical men who had been H the army and who had experienced shell shock cases at first hand, -w—had any idea of the nature of this particular disability. Several other masters were touched upon by the speaker, and . at the close of his address, questions affecting the Association were ansvyered. -4 vo^e °f thanks to the speaker concluded this portion of the address. A meeting of returned men was afterwards held, and the advisability of forming a strong local Association was emphasised by Mr Pollock. The Auckland A.sspciation were desirous of this BF;.^t)eing done in as many centres as S^possible, as their membership gflL was too large, and by Httfeving smaller branch Associathe country members were ■ ' insured of much quicker attention to their requirements. -A BU mber of new members were signed on, and a good few transfers affected, and the Kaipara Returned Soldiers' is now on the -^v-ay to becoming strong, both numerically and financially. Mr pollock intends to fjnish the organisation of'thfs and northern places affected, on his return frqm Wellington, where has gone —- to attend the conference.

Iflorence La Badie in " The Woman in Wiute," next Saturday at the Lyric. Tractors or Trucks ; J. P. Lambert The Appointed Ford Dealer, *