DUTY OF EX-SOLDIERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 August 1921, Page 2

DUTY OF EX-SOLDIERS.

THE NEED FOR EFFICIENCY. SPEECH BY GENERAL RUSSELL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Feilding Sunday. General Sir Andrew Russell, as president of the Returned Soldiers’ Association, visited Feilding yesterday and inspected the Kopane and Fairfield soldiers’ settlements. In the evening he was the guest of the local branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association. In a speech, ,General Russell said New Zealand soldiers were treated better than any others in the world, largely owing to the action of the Returned Soldiers’ Association. They still had to watch and care for disabled men and dependents of the fallen, and they also had a duty to the country. The Dominion was going through a bad time, and needed economy and efficiency.’ Men must tighten their belts and hold on; men nowadays were only 70 per cent, efficient, and to make the country go ahead they required more efficency. Referring to the canteen fund, he said he proposed that this £lOO,OOO should be .used for the benefit of disabled men and their dependents. He was not in favor of the Government taking charge of it, and he thought this money and patriotic society funds should be lumped and taken charge of by a small committee having the confidence of the soldiers. He concluded by calling on the soldiers to do their best for the country. “If the country 7 owes a debt to you, you also owe a debt to the country,” concluded General Russell.