HELPING EX-SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 February 1921, Page 5

HELPING EX-SOLDIERS.

LARGE AMOUNTS IN LOANS.' VERY FEW FAILURES. By Telegraph— Press Association. Dunedin, Last Night. Speaking at a complimentary banquAl which was- tendered him at Cromwell, Sir William Fraser, as chairman of the Ministerial Repatriation Board, gave some interesting figures showing how wonderfully successful the repatriation scheme has been. He mentioned that 15,713 returned men had received in loan money £l,400,000, and of that sum a total of £405,000 has already been in monthly instalments. That meant that in another two or three years the money used for the repatriation of these men would all be paid back to the Dominion, and that was something to be very proud of. Proceeding to give some details, Sir William stated that 5292 loans had been granted for men entering upon small businesses, amounting to £965,272; 9445 loans, amounting to £431,868, had been granted for furniture, and 976 loans amounting to £19,323 had been granted, for tools. No fewer than 6557 men had been trained, at a cost of £243,456, and the large total of 21,461 men had been placed in employment, or otherwise provided for, at a total cost of £1,669,000 The speaker added that in proportion to the great number of men who had “made good” under the scheme, the failures had been very few indeed. In fact, considered in their proper relation, they were almost negligible.