RECURRING WAR DISABILITIES

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21886, 12 September 1936, Page 16

RECURRING WAR DISABILITIES

" ♦ — SETTLERS ABANDONING PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT TAKES SERIOUS VIEW [From Our Parliarhentary Reporter! WELLINGTON, September 11. The serious effects of recurring war disability on many of the soldiers working under the discharged soldiers’ settlement schemes in the Dominion are emphasised in the report of the Department of Lands and Survey for the year ended March 31, 1936, which was presented to Parliament to-day. In ,more than one case appended, reports of district officers draw special attention to this class of settler, and the need for sympathetic consideration of his difficulties.

The report on the operation of the scheme in the North Auckland district states that the year certain rural properties were abandoned to the department through the inability of the soldier settlers, because of failing health, to carry on with farming. “This aspect of soldier settlement requires close and sympathetic consideration,’’ the report adds. The report from Marlborough aiso points out that as time went on war disabilities were recurring and surely taking toll. This was no doubt inevitable, but it' was with deep regret, that the fact had to be recorded.

“Unfortunately, a considerable proportion of returned men are suffering from the result of war service, which makes it difficult for them to carry out their programme of work fully, and their cases are being met sympathetically,” says the Canterbury report. ■‘Concessions in rent and interest have been made in a great many cases, thus encouraging them to carry on with an improved outlook for the future.” The Otago report mentions the same aspect of the scheme.

Practically all the sectional reports on the activities of men under the scheme refer to the improved position of soldier settlers generally, through an increase in prices for primary produce. They claim that the settlers under the scheme have done their share in combating the slump conditions.

The report states that loans authorised under the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Account during the year totalled 719, involving an amount of £66,517. Cash receipts for the year rose by £ 144,987. Additional lands set aside for selection brought the total proclaimed since the inception of the scheme up to the value of £1,452,829.