VETERANS FOREGATHER.

Shannon News, 24 September 1929, Page 4

VETERANS FOREGATHER.

REUNION OF SOUTH AFRICAN CONTINGENTERS.

MAYOR AND MEMBER FOR MANAWATU AMONG THE SPEAKERS.

The veterans of the South African War are a dwindling band, but the spirit of comradeship engendered by their campaign has not waned; on the contrary, as their early associations recede, their desire for.fellowship grows stronger and through their official organisation they are being more and more closely united. Evidence of their brotherly relations was abundant at the annual reunion of the Levin branch of their association, held in the Be Luxe Social Hall on Saturday night. About fifty were present, including the Mayor of Levin (Mr C. Blenkhorn) and Mr J. Linklater, M.P., both of whom are ex-Contingenters. The Levin >branch of the Returned Soldiers' Association was (re-presented' by 'the president (Major G. D. Hamilton) and the secretary (Mr H. G. Mack-ay). The president of the local branch of the S.A. Veterans' Association (Mr E. Hogg) presided, and extended a wel-

come to the guests and visitors.. The proceedings were opened with the toast of the Bang and a silent tribute to absent comrades.

Mr J. R. Hesp proposed the toast of the Dominion president (Captain J. J. Clark, of Wellington) and the Dominion secretary (Mr J. H. E. Tilling). In doing so he said that the Association had a real live executive, an enthusiastic president and a good secretary. The executive were able tj hold their own, and he trusted that they, would continue to„ agitate on behalf of the meeds of their comrades..

Captain Clark, in responding, expressed great pleasure at being amongst the district veterans on this, his second visit to Levin. He had taken away very oleasant Memories of the last gathering, and had reported to the Dominion executive what a live branch existed in. this district. Unfortunately the Do-.iinion secretary, Mr Tilling, was no'; able to be present on this occasion, as he had not been in good health for some time. The annual conference had recently been held in Wellington, and in his experience it was the best that the Association had had. This bi.dy was absolutely non-politi-cal; it cud not matter to the executive whether a National, Reform or Labour Government was in office. So long as he was in office, the executive would approach whatever party was in power, and press the claims of the veterans. When the change of Government occurred at last election, they had hopes that their 'demands Kvtoulcj be more readily acceded tc than in the past; consequently the trend of the conference this year had been optimistic. He had been president for three years, and vice-president for many years before that; he had attended every conference held by the Association, and had approached Government on many occasions, but the responses from that quarter had been disheartening. , RETURNED SOLDIERS' PRIVILEGES.

Dealing with the reasons for the existence of the Association, Captain Clark said that the principal one was the tie of comradeship. However, the body existed for something more than the holding of reunions. Every year members -came from, all parts of New Zealand to attend a conference. The first' plank in its' platform was to obtain some recognition of the South African veteran. Oi:e of the first things that had been done by the party to, which Mr Linklater belonged was to recognise the services of the Maori War veterans, by giving a pension of £49 per annum to every man who could produce the Maori War medal. That pension was given irrespective of the applicant's circumstances in life. Then the Great War happened, and aff the men returned from it various repatriation schemes were started for their benefit. The South African veterans naturally wanted to know what was going to be done in their case. The speaker had put the question to the late Mr Massey, Prime Minister of the day, who said, "When the men from the Great War have been dealt with,

then we are prepared to deal with the South African veterans." The late Mr Guthrie, then Minister of Lands, backed up his clref in this view. That was about six yc;i: ; ago, and Mr Massey estimated that -in. two years he would have attended to all the returned soldiers from the Great War and would be prepared to seriously consider the claims or' .the contingenters. The speaker believed than those Ministers were sincere when they made' that promise; in fact they put a provision on the Statute Book that, h'y an Order-in-Council, men from the South African War could be given the full privileges of returned soldiers and all the benefits of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act!. That provision could be brought into force immediately if an Order-in-Council were made. Mr Guthrie died, but Mr McLeod repeated what his predecessor had said. Since the election, the executive had interviewed Mr Forbes, , Minister of Lands, who stated that he had every sympathy with thefix requests, but acjded that this Government was out for a much bigger policy of land settlement than that of any previous Government. The Minister went on, "When you know our land policy, there will be no occasion for you to ask for anything at all, because the South African veterans will be given a preference, but our lancj policy will be so liberal that the veterans will not want preference; in any particular form." The Minister made r.o promise about doing this- at any particular time. HELP IN OLD AGE. Another plank was that of pensions. After yoars of hard battling, the As- ' soeiation had only been able to wring out of the Government £l3 per annum

for the South African veteran in addition to the Ojld age pension. That was the only monetary recognition that they had from this Dominion to-day, and it had been hard work to get that. The political change', however, had brought in a new Minister of Pensions, Mr Veiteh. That gentleman was duly interviewed, and was entirely sympathetic and candid. Mr Veiteh admitted that the amount of £l3 a year was quite insufficient, and he said, "I cannot do anything until after the session is over, and then I intend to go right through the pension legislation, and I can assure you that the South African veterans will, receive more than syin 1 pathetic consideration." The deputation had not asked for a specific amount, but for a generous increase. NEED JOE A BELIEF FUND. In the four centres there were a number of comrades who sought relief; in Wellington the Association had a strong branch, but only a small subscription, and after the expenses of administration there was no money left ■for indigent-,'comrades. Any* money that was given to them there, had simply come out of the pockets of those to whom thoy had applied. Was that a right thing in this Dominion, with all the money it was reputed to possess? Any man who had served in South Africa, whether a New Zealander or not, should be able to rely on some fund, for a fsw shillings wheu he was in need. Was there not some justification for contending that a small portion of the funds of the returned soldiers should be available for South African veterans? Certainly some change had been effected during the past year. As the result of some very plain speaking, by himself and some other members of the executive, they had induced the late Minister of Finance, Mr Downie Stewart, to make the small allowance of £250 towards indigent Contingenteis. The Association had been very, glad to get this much, of ccfurse. This year the executive waited on Sir Joseph Ward, Prime Minister, who said, ''The sum that you have received has been totally inadequate. I will bring the matter before Cabinet." Captain Clark added that he was optimistic -onough to believe that they were going to get a. very substantial increase in the amount. He concluded with a Stirling appeal to comrades to be loya't to the Association, which, he said, had never been stronger than at present.

HISTOEY OF WAE TO BE PUBLISHED. Major P. de B. Brandon, 0.8. E., a vice-president of the Association, and president of the Wellington branch, responded on behalf of the Dominion Secretary. He humorously remarked that the Wellington body never had any "brass hats" at its smoke concerts; invitations were sent to them, but they did not come along, and the branch's functions were not honoured, as this one was, by the Mayor (a Ist Contiugenter) and Mr Linklater (a member of the 6th Contingent). At last year's conference he moved a resolution to ask the Government to endeavour to have the history of the Boer War published. Years ago grants were put on the Estimates to enable this to be done, but the matter had been lying dormant at headquarters. Through his bringing the question up again, it was beginning to bear fruit, and the history was sroing to be published. LEVIN BRANCH. • The toast of the South African Veterans' Levin branch was honoured by the half-dozen visitors present. It was proposed by Major Hamilton, who mentioned the good work done by the, branch president (Mr Hogg) and secretary (Mr A. H. Maclean), and stated that as the Contingenters grew older the affairs of the Association would require very much closer attention than in the past. ~ The Chairman, in responding, stated that the committee, the secretary and himself had worked hard to get in touch with all the South African veterans in the branch's district, which extended to Shannon, Foxton and Paraparauinu. What was needed was a large and fully financial membership.

PARLIAMENT.'

; 'ln proposing the toast or Parliament, the Mayor said that he could tell his hearers very little about it. When Mr Linklater retired in his favour, he might have more to say. (Laughter). Most of those present would hope that that time would be long in coming. Referring to a remark by Major Brandon, His Worship said that a "brass hat" whs generally regarded by soldiers as an officer to be feared and dodged; but the speaker himself was very approachable—anyone could talk to him, and no cine ran away from him. As to Parliament, most people thought that there was too much of it altogether and that the business could be done more expeditiously if there was a very much lesser number of M.P-.'s; they also thought that there was little to show for what they paid '•'those gentlemen.. Now that there was a new set in power, they had taken away the bricks from the Palmerston North railway deviation. "Most of j us feel," said the Mayor, "that if this part}- were thrown out, the party i that would go in would carry those I bricks back. That is not the sort of thing we want at all. We want people there to consider New Zealand and the welfare of the country and to do their best in that direction. Many worthy people desire that members should not talk too much, but that; their one aim and object should be the advancement of the Dominion. If we are assured that that is the type of 1 men we can get, we cannot have too many of them. When the time arrives to consider who shall represent us, we want to know the man we arc getting: is he there for .the sake of the position, or is he there for the purpose of advancing the welfare of New Zealand. I That is the man we want to vote for, whether he calls himself United, Eeform, Liberal, Labour, or anything else. MEMBEE FOE MANAWATU REPLIES. J

Mr Linklater, in replying, thanked

the branch for the invitatibii isent tj ' him, and said he had thought that the least he .could do was to come fr,om bis home at Kairsnga to be with his comrades, when several of them had come from" Wellington. Incidentally he mentioned that Major Brandon had pioneered ithe faun at Pohangina held by the speaker. It was a pleasure to ha"ve the" opportunity of listening to a speech by Major Brandon, because h-3 was in the position of glorifying all that members said in the House, being Hansard supervisor. Mr Linklater thanked the Mayor for his remarks, and commented that there was some truth in what His Worship' had sail I about, Parliament. It was what the people made. it. If electors were disappointed in their "member, they look-' ed for another man. If Parliament was not what it ought to be, then the people could .only blame themselves. Eight from its early history, this country had reason to "be proud of the men who had carried on itj Parliament, up to the present time. There had been many notable men in it, and they had brought it to its present stage of development with credit to themselves and honour 1o the country. Politicians of this later day strove.to follow in the footsteps of those men. Although he, with his party, was in opposition, they were doing their best for the country itself, sinking party, as far as possible and doing what they could for every man, woman and child in the Dominion. He would help the South African veterans in every possible way; if it could he done by way of addition to their pension, he was only too willing to do his best in that direction. He was very proud indeed to be one of the veterans himself, because when the Great War broke out a huge percentage of those who had fought inSouth Africa Vdluniteered jagain for service, and during the late War they gained very great distinction. If he could help them in any possible' way, they couid depend on him to do it. (Applause). He Avas very pleased to see the comradeship that existed between the soldiers from the Great War and those who had scerved in South Africa. Mr Linklater added that one of the bells that was to be included in the carillon to be erected at Wellington was the . jgift of the South African veterans, and Captain Clark and Majo l ' Brandon had been prominent movers in that direction.

EETUENED SOLDIERS' ASSOCIATION. </

The toast of the Returned Soldiers' Association was proposed by Mr W;'N. Brown, of .Shannon, who stated that that organisation, although having a large r.umber of members' to look after, had always treated the Contingenters as though they were its own. The R S.A. had the South African veterans to thank for the example «et in the matter of caring for the disabled. Major Hamilton responded, and said it waa a pleasure to see that the veterans could still muster in good numbers at a function such as this. Personally, he had arrived in South Africa two days before peace was proclaimed, a,nd was put ashore two days after, so he was not a South African. At the last annual conference of the R.S.A., "the president and vice-president of the veterans were in i.ttendanee, and both gave very able speeches as to what was desired from the E.S.A. in the way of help. Ohly about seven thqusand men had" left these shores to go to the Boer War, whereas 120,000 went from the Dominion to the Great War. On the Yeturn of the Contingenters they formed only a very small voice in the community!, but after the European War about a hundred thousand came back and they had a very large say in the affairs of Ihe country and had to be listened to. The R.S.A., when first started, was a very live and active body; later the numbers decreased, but they were graduallly being got back into the fold. It was only, as the years went by that societies like those of the veteran* began to have any.importance. There were not many men left who could say that they were the first New Zealanders to go away and show tlu.t they could fight. No person could say that they did not acquit themselves nobly during that war. He spent five years in South Africa after the Boer War and got an idea of what the men had gone through, and he would say that the conditions had been quite as trying as most of those through which soldiers in the Great War passed. There had been several kinds" of fever with which they had had to- conter.d, and although some men might not have been definitely 1 affected during their service, they suffered after their return to civilian life. There were very few men who had served in Soutli Africa who were now under the age of 50. At the last conference of the E.S.A. the question was brought up whether returned soldiers and South African veterans should not be brought into the old age pensions scheme at a reduced age. Probably legislation would be brought down this session reducing the age from 65 to 60 in the case of these men. He was not sure that Mr Linklater would not be one of the first to say that the age should be 55. ' The speaker did not contend that all over 60 should get the pension, but the cases should be treated on their merits. As long as there were any South African veterans alive in New Zealand, they would find that there was always assistance forthcoming from the E.S.A. (Applause). The toasts of Major Brandon and the Press were proposed by the Mayor, and duly acknowledged." That, Of the visitors was proposed by Mr F. J. W. Stallard, and responded to by Mr A. G. R. Blackwood, of Shannon.

AN OLD REGULAR. -

Some interesting rsmlniscences were given by Mr Stallard, who is a soldier and the son . of a soldier, his father having served in the Maori War. He stated that he went to sea from New Zealand in 1893, but on finding that he way seeing more of the sea than of the world, he enlisted in the British Army, joining the Royal Horse artil-

lery. After serving in India and other countries, he went from England to the South African War. The' first soldiers .he met there were the New Zealand Ist and 2nd Contingents, and! they were constituted an escort to the R.H.A. He was present at the first action hi which the New Zealanders were engaged, at Naupoort. In later years he joined the 7th Reinforcements and served through the Great War. As far as "picnics" were concerned, one war was no better than the other. He had served throughout the Boer War, and found that thera were a few good times —about Capetown and some other places-—but they were few and far between. Considering the many comforts provided for the. troops in the European War, he would rather ,go through such another campaign than a repetition of the South African experience. The Mayor mentioned, that he was anion:]' those who took part in .the,, New Zeakr.iders' first engagement, but had not kiiown until this occasion that Mr Stallard had beer, a member of the E 11. A., the premier unit of the British Army.

Mr Blackwood spoke on behalf ,of veterans at Shannon and Tokomaru, stating that those who were not already members of the Association would join it after this function.

Captain Clark expressed'the thanks of the visitors for the hospitable way in which they had been treated by the local Iraich.

Ijtems, whidjh were much enjoyed, were contributed by Mr P. MorgaK. (vocal- and elocutionary), Mr McAlister (recitations),' and Mr 11. McMillan 's string band, wlio were doubly encored.