RETURNED SOLDIERS

Otago Witness, Issue 4029, 2 June 1931, Page 19

RETURNED SOLDIERS

SHORTNESS OF PUBLIC DIEMORY. CHRISTCHURCH, May 31. Dleeting a deputation of returned soldiers who asked that the Rehabilitation Act should be put into force, the Leader of the Oppositiou (Dlr J. G. Coates) said he would have pelasure in asking the Government to put the Act into operation. He said he could not believe that it would be very expensive to have vocational officers appointed in the main centres, whose duty it would be to try to find suitable employment for returned men. He understood that nothing had been done at all. Speaking on the question of preference, Dlr Coates said that one thing the returned men had to face was a decreasing public interest. The men were promised preference when they returned from the front, yet recently when the Government staffs were reduced the question of preference should have received the fullest consideration. Returned soldiers with families were some of the first to be turned out, and this, he thought, was wrong. In some instances, single men had been put in their places. Mr T. L. Drummond: We want to know whether, if you are Prime Dlinister, you will see to the returned soldiers? Dlr Coates: I am only too glad to say that I would see that their efforts for the country are not forgotten. It is most regrettable that their work should be forgotten as it has been.