RETURNED SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 October 1919, Page 6

RETURNED SOLDIERS.

THE DOMINION CONFERENCE. A WHITE NEW ZEALAND. ■ By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, October 20. There was a warm discussion to-day at the R.S.A. Conference on the question of competition from Hindus and Chinese with returned soldiers. The conference was dealing with a remit from a Repatriation Committee asking the conference to draw the attention of the Government to the increasing number of Hindus arriving in New Zealand and to request that the Immigration Restriction Act be amended to stop without delay the immigration of Hindus and Chinese. The conference was asked to declare fcv ,a White New Zealand. Mr Long (Auckland) submitted that the increase of aliens, especially Hindu, immigration during the war constituted a very serious menace to the country. A\i*tralia had declared for a White Australia and had never gone back on it Mr Petherick (Christchurch) entered a plea for the Chinese. He pleaded for a policy of "live and let live." The British had forced themselves into China at the cannon's mouth. The recommendations were adopted. BIGGER BUSINESS LOANS.

The Conference adopted a remit that the R"\ ; . A. be granted more representation on Repatriation Boards. Mr Long (Auckland) moved that the Association ask the Government and Parliament for a pledge thac land settlement and. repatriation generally shall not' be rendered inoperative until such time as any soldier has had aifiple opportunity to train himself or otherwise arrange his iaffairs in order to allow him to take full advantages of the said benefits. This was agreed to. With regard to apprentices it was agreed that when a married man is completing his indentures under the scheme, the sustenance scale, and 1 not the £3 flat rate, should apply. The Conference passed a remit to raise the sustenance scale as follows:—Man and wife 55/-. with one child 60/-, with two children 70/-, with three children 75/-, with four children 80/-. A remit that loans for business be increased to £SOO, of which £IOO is to be free of interest, was adopted. SOLDIERS' DWELLINGS. A further remit was adopted that the purchase and building of urban and suburban properties for soldiers' dwellings be administered by'the Repatriation Department, farming properties to be under the Lands Department as before. The Conference was unanimously of the opinion that mothers of deceased soldiers should be eligible to . the repatriation and land settlement benefits. Regarding subsidised workers it was resolved on the recommendation of the Repatriation Centre that in view of the fact that subsidies are paid monthly and that thereby many trainees suffer undue hardship because they are unable to meet their weekly obligations,, arrangements be made with tlie employer to pay the full amount due every week and that a cheque for the subsidy be forwarded to • the employee every month. The Conference recommended the adoption in other centres of the Westport scheme for establishing co-opera-tive parties of miners.

THE AUSTRALIAN PAY. Wellington, Last Night. The Pay and Allowances Committee, reporting with regard to the Wellington remit that the New Zealand rate of pay be raised to that of the Australian Imperial Forces, and to he retrospective, stat»d it had no recommendation to make, leaving the decision to the full conference. Mr. A. B. Sievewright (Wellington), convener of the committee, moved the adoption of the remit, and spoke in support of it. The remit was decisively rejected, the only delegate who voted in favor of it being Mr Sievewright. RE-EMPLOYMENT OF MEN. The employment of returned soldiers formed the subject of a report by the Repatriation Committee, which stated it found many soldiers had been refused re-emplovment in the public service on account of war injuries. The commiturged that employment at a wage comparable to what they would have received had they not enlisted, should be found for them; that a separate superannuation fund, subsidised by the Government, be established in order to remove any difficulty in connection with superannuation; that no soldier so reemployed shall lose, by reason of war service, any* annual increment to which he would otherwise have been entitle'd. The report was adopted.

THE GRATUITY. The Pay, Allowances and Gratuities Committee recommended that every endeavor should be made to have the increase in the rate of officers' pay made fully retrospective; soldiers financial assistance should be made fully retrospective to all members of the N.Z.E.F., and legislati&n should be introduced to give effect to this principle; that clause 12 of the Government's scheme as passed bv Parliamnet, in which these allowances cannot be claimed as a Tight ami are issued at the discretion of the Minister of Defence, should be withdrawn. The clause referred to reads as follows: —None of the allowances authorised in this order can he claimed as a rieht, but are issued at , the discretion of the Minister of Defence. The recommendations were adopted. With regard to gratuities the Conference resolved that the pefiod spent in hospital by returned soldiers in New Zealand should be counted as active service for the purpose of the gratuity, provided the gratuities cease on .Tune 28. 191 ft, whether such soldiers are discharged or not. It was also decided that, as a general principle, the gratuities of deceased soldiers should be paid to the legal representatives of such soldiers in every case, find that no deduction should lie made from any soldier's gratuity for nnv militarv offence committed after June 28, 1919. 'FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE. The Conference discussed the question of retrospective financial assistance for men of the Main Body and early reinforcements. It was introduced bv n remit from W&ikato as follows:—That in view of tmr apparent unsympathetic attitude towards applications made by men of the Main Hodv and earlier reinforcements, application he made for guttata uttiur out tins* Mtrdi SI

last, f (a) the number of applications made for retrospective financial assistance, (b) the number of applicants to whom assistance has been granted. Mr N. A. Ching, in moving the remit, said he had helped 200 people to apply fgr financial assistance, and not one application was granted. The applications were turned down in the secretary's office. > After a lengthy discussion in which the system was sharply criticised Mr Ching withdrew his original remit and substituted: That in view of the very unsatisfactory manner of dealing with claims put before the Board, the Conference demand that the administration of the Financial Assistance Act should be placed in the hands of the Repatriation Department, and that a deputation wait on the Minister to place the whole of the facts before him. ■ This was carried unanimously. QUESTION OF ORGANISATION. , The organisation of the Association was further referred to, when an attempt was made to definitely interpret the proposals of the Organisation Committee. The matter was introduced by Mr J. H. Luxford (Waikato), who went over the previous discussion ant! claimed that the original clause, with the amendment added, rendered the clause difficult of interpretation. The committee had again gone into the interpretation of the clause and had come to the conclusion that the following should be substituted:—Provincial Associations shall work under, a common constitution to be laid down by the Domiifion Council, and Provincial Associations shall be subject to the control of the Dominion Council, and the constitution be altered accordingly. The following was the construction to be placed* on the amendment: "The Provincial Associations shall he subject to the control of the NXff.5.A. Council (that is, the Conference) in general meeting. The executive of the N.Z.R.S.A. shall ' have full power to enforce iv.on Provincial Associfttions resolutions of the Council, but otherwise shall not control the Provincial Associations." This was adopted.