SOLDIERS' CLAIMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 110, 9 May 1918, Page 2

SOLDIERS' CLAIMS.

EVIDENCE BEFORE THE WAR EXPENDITURE COMMISSION. Corresponded c> WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The somewhat startling evidence being p.vtrac-ted from unwilling witnesses by the chairman of the War Expenditure I ommisslou has produced a fresh crop of complaints concerning the treatment ; of sick and wounded soldiers and tl* dependents of those who have lost their lives. The newspapers have been deluged with letters on the subject, and their reporter? have been kept busy investigating specified cases. 'Hie result, speakin" generally, has been to show that a very larrre proportion of the complaints res*t on the very flimsiest foundation or have arisen from some misunderstanding that rovld have been easily removed if the aggrieved parti.-s had placed themselves in communication -with the proper authorities. The Government, urged on by a Parliament that certainly has not I been unmindful of the claimi and the needs of the men and their dependents is not unwilling to do its duty, but to' obtain satisfactory results it must have the co-operation of the sufferers and their friends. This was the burden of a speech delivered at a gathering of Druids to welcome returned soldiers by the Hon A _ M. Myers (Minister of Munitions and Supplies), who during the absence of Sir Joseph .Ward has had the burdens and worries of the Treasury added tn hie *nJy lot. Provision, he said, find been ! made for all soldiers incapacitated or' partially incapacitated from taking their place in the industrial life of the community, and he would like to have the • names ot thoso who thought they had r not received the assistance to which they ■ cere entitled. Ho asked then, to submit _. the whole position to the Government and he was sure it would receive earnest " a fLl T "P atheU c consideration. Words • of this kind, coming from Mr Myers, are : tbe best assurance tha public 'poaaiblr can have of the desire of the Government - to do its lull duty towards the sufferers from the war. The Minister indulges in no heroics, hut what he says he does, and returned soldiers should respond frankly to Ins cordial invitation.