CARE OF RETURNED MEN

Southland Times, Issue 24834, 28 August 1942, Page 4

CARE OF RETURNED MEN

Need For Patriotic Fund Reserves “We will want patriotic funds to help returned soldiers 30 or 40 years from, now,” said Mr G. A. Hayden, secretary of the National Patriotic Fund Board, at a meeting of the Southland Provincial Patriotic Council yesterday in reply to a question about the policy of accumulating patriotic funds. Mr Hayden added that there was a big job ahead when the men came back. The economic pension, the war veterans’ allowance and social security would make the position better than it was after the last war, but there were other factors that they did not have to consider then. In this war men were being called up at the age of 18. Most of them would not have any trade or calling to go back to and they were likely to constitute a serious problem. The Government recognized this, but no matter how wisely a Government Department acted it was tied down by regulations and that was where the Patriotic Fund could step in and help. Another point was that there were far more prisoners of war this time than there were in the last war. They would need special care when they came back, and many of the men who had served in the Air Force might also require special care. “We know that it is the Government’s job to help the returned men, Mr Hayden added, “but the Patriotic Fund should be ready to help men that the Government is not able to help. Dr A. Owen-Johnston, president or the Invercargill R.S.A., endorsed Mr Hayden’s remarks. With all the allowances now provided by the Government there was still need for help from the Patriotic Fund, he said. The calls on the fund might be all the greater after this war because it was probable that twice as many men would be mobolized in this war as were mobilized in the last war.