Whose Responsibility?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 583, 8 February 1929, Page 8

Whose Responsibility?

Care of Great-War Veterans

WHAT is to happen to the veterans of the Great War of 1914-18? Who is to see that they who gave the morning of till r lives in the service of their country shall have a smooth path at eventide? In Auckland the Veterans’ Home has accommodation for 40 men, but when the present 23 inhabitants—survivors of South Africa and the Maori Wars —have answered the last bugle-call, new plans for its control and maintenance will have to be considered.

The veterans’ home at Mount Roskill was erected in 1903 as a memorial to those who in previous wars paid the inevitable penalty for national greatness, and as a resting-place for the survivors in their last few helpless years. At that time the echo of the guns of South Africa was still ringing in the ears of the people. Sympathy and gratitude filled the hearts of the populace, and the insistent appeal of the then Governor, Lord Ranfurly, for support for a veterans’ home found a ready and sincere response. Through Lord Ranfurly’s efforts the

institution was established, and it has come to be regarded as a memorial to the Interest and sympathy which the ex-Governor showed in the men whose glory and suffering were then still fresh in every mind. His object was not to create a benevolent institution, but to provide a place where honour, respect and care should be lavished on the men. “When death shall claim them, they shall have no pauper’s grave, but their names and services shall be duly recorded,” were his own words. Since that date, therefore, the home has been open to members of the Colonial and Imperial Forces who are residing in New Zealand and unable to earn a living for themselves. No age limit is fixed for entry, but each application for admission is carefully considered by the Auckland Patriotic Association, under whose control the institution is vested. For the first 18 years of its exist-

ence the veterans' home was controlled by a board of management, but in 1921 its administration was banded over to the Patriotic Association. It never has been conducted at a profit, although strenuous efforts have been made in recent years to create an interest-earning fund of such dimensions as to make it selfsupporting. DRAIN ON FUNDS Over £10,600 in bequests has been invested in this way, but this sum has been offset in a measure by the home being operated at a substantial annual loss. A deficit of nearly £3,000 was shown for the past four years, and so far all endeavours to persuade the State to assist in its extinction have failed. For some years the Government subsidised the home, but this was discontinued before the Patriotic Association took charge. The £3,000 deficit in operating costs eventually was met from the association’s special B Fund —created for unemployment relief. The near future will bring with it a knotty problem for the trustees of the home. In a comparatively short while the few Maori War and South African War veterans will have crossed the Great Divide, and the old soldiers of the European struggle will be seeking a resting place for warweary heads. Even now there are six 1914-18 veterans in the Mt. Roskill home, and others who served their country late in life are approaching the retiring age. NATIONAL PROBLEM The Patriotic Association is unable to undertake the responsibility for this oncoming flood of ex-servicemen; funds are already stretched to their utmost, and money for the sick and the wounded alone is available. The problem must be handled by an institution with more far-reaching influence than a district body. The veterans’ home is a national rest-house, and its inhabitants represent all parts of the country. Its ultimate survival, it seems, must he a national responsibility. Soon the men who served in the European war will have to be considered just as Lord Ranfurly thought of the old soldiers of the Boer War and the Maori conflicts. Patriotic associations throughout New Zealand are becoming short of funds, except for their district sick and wounded, and unless the trustees of the Canteen Fund can be persuaded to finance a suitable scheme, public assistance will have to be invoked. None will wish to see abolished the big building on its picturesque site at Mt. Roskill,' which has served the country well for a quarter of a century. It probably will not be done away with, however, but will be used as one of several homes distributed evenly throughout the Dominion to give comfort and rest to the old soldier in the autumn of his life. Who is to do the job has not even been considered.