THE COMING CONFERENCE

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 125, 26 May 1920, Page 5

THE COMING CONFERENCE

OF RETURNED SOLDIERS. •

iIGHUNG SPIRIT HAKLEESTEQ*

SFROS& AUCKLAND EEMH&-

Twelve remits arranged by the local executive for discussion at the forthcoining returned soldiers' conference were considered and approved by a. meeting ot members of the Auckland: Returned Soldiers' Association in tbe Chamber of Commerce last evening. Aliw A. C. A. Sexton, vice-president, was in the <!hair. Tim conference is to ba opened in Wellington on Saturday, and it will be a gathering of delegates from all over the Dominion to discuss affecting their interests. "Unless you can put some punch intoi them, resolutions are bo much wastej paper," said the chairman. "It is pro* posed to ask the Government for .peat mission for a E-SjA. member to address them on the floor. That is the sngges* tion we propose putting before Parlia* ment next ■week." UNITY IS STRENGTH. Then the secretary, Mr- E. *> Andrews, made a strong appeal lor interest in the R.S.A. "The Association -within the next cix T """ t- ' h ff iiaa to facet •the most critical period since its formation. Several things we 'have fought foi< daring the hist three years have been turned down. The forthcoming confer* ence and session will be critical. If could depend on i airplay the would be of no oae. It would not mattey, to 76 per cent, of the returned eoldiere, if the Association disappeared tomorrow. But the memory of the pM&ne is short, and already, with the -wax Juse' over, both the public and many returned men are forgetting. Soldiers enonld take a much greater interest in the Association. Instead of thinking their job don* when they attend a meeting and elect an. executive they ehoold discuss affaire, watch carefully the doings of the executive. Instead of saying on the street corners, "What's the good of -tfie Association i' they should come along te the meeting and say so. But ihey dan*fc There area, nundred thousand returae4 soldiers in this country, and the tree** ment they get is just, what -they deserve. For no Government, \shether it be Liberal, Reform, or Labour, or anything else, could afford to ignore the united; power of a hundred thousand voters." Among the remits ie one regarding pensions, demanding an increased rate-;j that children shoTild receive the pension till eighteen; tihat wives and diiMren of partially disabled men should receive tie same percentage of pension as the husband; and further, that a War Pensions Appeal Board shouldlbe , with three members, an SM., and two , medical men. This Board to sit for • three years and determine appeals front : the decisions of the present Penskmd ! Board, which must in all cases carry ou% ! the Appeal Board's decisions, t OSier remits: — ; The allowance of 5/ a day to BmbJes* 1 men attending HmSJless repair factory b9 ■ at least doubled. k That a bill be. introduced next session : /providing that Anzac Day (April 25) bq a statutory holiday. That the Government be asked to donate to the RSjA. in four centres a set of band instruments and equipment

tha-t belonged to the (NjZ.KF. on service, ' Repatriation Department increase the allowance to subsidised workers tq make wages up to £3 10/ single, and £4 married.

That this Association views with indignation and alarm the temporary stoppage of the DjS-S. Act. In view or the (pledge given to the last conference to continue the operation of the Act until every man had been settled on the land, "this Association regards this move. ment of the Government as a direct •breach of faith and a prostitution of the Government's honour." The remit urges, "all possible pressure to force the Gov* ernment to remain loyal to its pledge, and to it 3 positive and undoubted duty« both to the returned soldiers and to the! country, to .renew at once the continuation of the operation of the Act" An*

it suggests proceedings and a writ ot mandanxua, if necessary, to force toei Lands Department to retract from its present attitude.

Another remit considers the shortage of house property and its excessive prices, together with the shortage o? buildingi materials, to be largely the result of wholesale exportation by the large timber corporations, and urges the Government to stop this exportation and commandeer all timber for homes.

That the South African war veterans be admitted as'active members of tfle N.Z.R.S.A., also veterans of any othei; war in which the British Empire has taken'paJt-