THE DEBT OF HONOUR.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 1936, 6 February 1919, Page 2

THE DEBT OF HONOUR.

THE claims of the discharged soldior wove sef out in n policy statement issued by Mr Lloyd George a lew days before the general elections. The first item on the Government programme, said the Prime .Minister, is the discharge of the country's debt of honour. 1 mean the obligations we are under to our gallant soldiers and sailors for what they have 1 endured and achieved for Britain. AVe are under a sacred obligation to the fallen, to the crippled, and to the survivors. As t’o the fallen, they have left behind them women and children who were dependent upon their care. The country must (alee up the guardianship; which dropped on the Held, of‘duty. It will be the duty of the new Parliament to see that this guardianship is honourably and generously discharged. As to'the crippled and maimed, the State must see that they have not suffered by their sacrifice. Not merely should an honourable allowance he made to them to compensate for the loss which they have sustained for their country, but special means ought to lie adopted, are being adopted indeed, to train them 1.0 make the best use of their remaining strength so as Mo supplement their income and to provide them with employment adequate to their capacity. As to (hose who have happily survived the terrors of the battlefield and the innumerable dangers of the high seas, the Slate is under a deep obligation to them. The country has been enriched by their valour. Without it we should have been in a very poof .plight to-day. AVe have only to look at: the condition of Germany and to contrast it with ours to realise the difference between victory and defeat. That difference we owe in (he main to these dauntless men. I hey therefore are fully entitled to (heir share in all that this difference means to their counl ry.