The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1918. DEMOBILISATION METHODS COMPARED.

Taihape Daily Times, 25 July 1918, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, JULY 25, 1918. DEMOBILISATION METHODS COMPARED.

(With which is Incorporated The /!aihapo Post and Walnmrltio News).

As a mighty fabulous giant may have been struck with the poison of some fell disease Britain became affected with the deadly virus of war that Germany broadcasted over the whole world four years ago; it rapidly took an exceedingly active form and just as rapidly it spread to every part of the Empire, no continent being immune. Every healthy man, as well as many women, exhibited unmistakable symptoms of the disease ,the chief of which was a rush to arms and a supreme desire to destroy the source from which it came. Britain was drained of its manhood, and ships continued to carry the manhood of the various Dominions till all parts of the Empire were visibly depleted of the flower of their population. There are now, however, just as unmistakable signs that the disease has reached its zenith as a fever docs its crisis. Though the greatest battle yet engaged in is being fought on the battlefield in France those at Home are busily preparing to absorb their fighting men back into civil life, a return to the arts of peace. The British Empire has painfully and laboriously gone through all phases of the war disease, at times being sick almost to death, but on its face to-day there are the signs of returning health. Men continued to depart to wipe out the source of trouble and when just upon the last being about to sail feverish efforts were commenced to prepare for their return. Britain has exerted its last effort in furnishing men and if the end sought is not achieved it ought to have been; in fact, it seems that Britain is obsessed with the idea that nothing on this earth can withstand its mightiest effort, and it, is taking it for granted that its chief aim has been accomplished, and before the last men leave on the mission of destruction conditions arc being organised for the return of every survivor of those that have been taken away. Various British Governing Departments have called in the co-operation of employers and of organisers of labour with a view to finding the easiest and most expeditious way for transforming the soldier into the after-war civilian worker The basis of the whole project is, of course, the industrial re-construction of the nation. Men are to be called home in acccrcance with their being part of an industrial unit that may first be called for by the Ministry of Labour and the Department of Reconstruction, and the scheme of rapid absorption is already so advanced that the Government is supervising rehearsals of it. All red tape and all formalities have been eliminated so that a soldier by once signing his name may discard his warring accoutrements and take to the loom, the lathe, the plough, or the pen, without jeopardising any of the rights that has accrued to him as a soldier. The rehearsal, taking twenty-four hours, worked well, we are told, although clerks, Pay Office and Labour Ministry officials were only doing experimental w r ork. In only forty minutes from arriving home the pretended returned soldier had his belongings, inducting his collection of curios, all sorted, his policy insuring him against unemploy, mcnt handed to him, 'and w r as marching to the railway station to board the train that would take him home. As the man passes out he receives, not only his unemployment policy, but also a fixed sum of money on account of anything that may he coming to him as pay allowance or gratuity; his account will be made up after he leaves for his twenty-eight days holiday, and before his holiday expires he ■will receive through whatever post office he elects the full balance of his account. Of course, the foregoing is only a very brief survey of what the British Government is doing to help

the soldiers out of the military shack les they must now be utterly tired of

at the very earliest possible moment, j but it Is sufficient to set the people of New Zealand wondering what their i Government is really doing in a practical way to rapidly absorb returnee men into the Dominion’s industrial life. We were struck by the ingenuity the Defence Department displays in finding openings for the employment of its pampered, highly-paid military officials,'-as displayed in the appointment v/ 6£ demobilisation com- I ‘niittee made public a few days ago. I; seems as though the notorious body of military blunderers are to constitute 'New Zealand’s Department of Reconstruction; that instead of calling in employers and those who are expert organisers of labour to collaborate with the Ministry of Labour and the Department of Reconstruction as Britain is doing, our Defence Department thinks it is quite capable of doing what half-a-dozen departments of Britishers can do, despite all their organisations and rehearsals. We are of opinion that if our Government is venally lax in anything it is that it vA \ making no provision for this country doing its bare duty to the men who return from the war. Day after day we see men on our streets, some of them in good positions before the war, now doing precarious work, such as driving wood-carts. We are told that the Government has secured land either in the far North or in the frozen South that is available for returnee soldiers, but we hesitate to use the words that would even fairly be appropriate for the men who, after soldiers have been at death’s door in fighting for their country, would banish them from their homos and make exiles of them in a strange land, in strange conditions, and amongst strange people. Land is being disgracefully aggregated hereabout by the stay-at-homes who arc eagerly buying at cheap rates that owned by men that conscription laws are tearing away; is there no sense of justice in us for these men? Then, there are miles of magnificent land, far more than enough to satisfy men who have been to fight for this district. To force men front this district into exile, or otherwise remain landless, will be written down as a crime those responsible for it will assuredly be called upon to answer. Our authorities in appointing a body of so-called military officers, erstwhile lawyers, clerks, and nothings-in-particular. to organise and manage the demobilisation and absorption into civil life of the men that are to'return is an msult to the intelligence,- of the whole country.