BARE JUSTICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 73, 27 March 1922, Page 7

BARE JUSTICE.

' • .— WHAT EX-SO-DIER.S WANT. A POWERFUL .SERMON. The harvest thanksgiving services were held in the -New.ou liast Methodist Miss-ion, East Street, Ncuton, by Rev. Frost, the occasion being rendered conspicuous hy a large aud varied display of produce donated by members of the congregation and friends. All kinds of root crops, grains, and fruits were included in the offering, as were also | several bags oi Hour, and the minister j stated that the offerings were to be distributed to the families of unemployed! soldiers and to cases of want in the j parish. i In tlie evening the minister delivered I a powerful sermon upon returned sol-j diers and unemployment, taking his text from Hebrews .\i. 13: "These all died in I faith.'' He spoke at length of the pro-1 mises made to the men who went away that they would be reinstated in their i jobs when they returned, or if disablvd would have other jobs as good found for them. What was the ease now? He I •quoted many instances that had come under his own personal notice where returned soldiers, married men, after receiving vocational training, were workless. ln many cases in the rush for business efficiency they had been thrust out because they were not held to be efficient enough. The preacher called upon the Government and upon the community, as a mere matter of justice, to ful.ll to the last letter the promises that had been made to the boys before they went away. This was not the time for retrenchment, he said. Immigrants were arriving in thousands, the resources of the country, it— hydro-electric schemes, and many other neceslssary works were crying aloud for development. Work could he found. It should be found. The war had cost the country, in cash, up to March, 1920, 36 millions—many thousands a day. This had been found by heroic measures. It would not cost so much more to keep the promises made to the fighting men. Posterity would have to pay and should pay, because future generations 'were reaping the advantage given by the fighting men. The Government had a duty to perform in this respect, and tbe returned men had a right to expect consideration. He uppe-aled also to the business people. It would mean but a little of their profits to "ive employment to the soldiers who were the men who had made it possible for them to continue in their business. Money was tight, he knew, but what was money besides the national honour? The nation should ke*p its word, and thus uphold the national honour that the soldiers had held so well during the I war. The preacher congratulated the City Council upon its road and drainage development works, without which there would have been hundreds more unemployed during the hard winter that was coming- He did not demand charity for i these unemployed soldiers, whose —.mi- \ lies actually were starving, in some in-1 stances. All he wanted was mere bare! justice.