The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun SATURDAY JULY 19, 1911. REPATRIATION OF SOLDIERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 169, 19 July 1941, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun SATURDAY JULY 19, 1911. REPATRIATION OF SOLDIERS

v ' n ° ° nc can say Ilo%v lone Ihi ' s v ' nr will last, it is certain that * ' soon after the ending of hostilities as possible-—which is to say, soon as ships can be made available to bring them—many thousands "f New Zealand s soldiers, airmen and sailors will return to the Dominion. Within perhaps six months they will all be home, and after a holiday „ ' i!iev will return, or seek to return, to civil occupation. In other words, they will be looking for jobs. They will have returned fully conscious . ihaf. they and no others have borne the brunt of New Zealand's war effort, and that whatever hardships or deprivations may have fallen upon those who stayed at home, such deprivations and hardships were « IS nothing compared with their own experiences. They will have • returned, too. with the memory of their mates who died in foreign •f lands, who made what is in truth the "supreme sacrifice" for New •< ;■ Zealand. When all these men return they will rightly expect the »r Government and people of New Zealand to have made thorough prepara--lion}° cnable ,hem t0 resume their civil lives with as little delay as j;-possible. They will rightly feel that New Zealand owes them something, * ■' and that something not money, or a place in a queue at a placement ■a,; office, but a fair opportunity to achieve their personal ambitions. V ' Vi r This pub J ecf of repatriation is so great and intricate that no body i f : of men, whether in Parliament, in a State Department, or anywhere j*, e,so ' should be foolishly vain enough to imagine that thev can'master it unaided. It is a great subject because it is part and parcel of the question of what kind of a country we in New Zealand, and the New landers serving overseas, wish this Dominion to be. It is an intricate pi:,, subject because into it enters the great variety of the ambitions of men ~ i and their differing capacities. Into it also enters the exceedingly difficult question of what the world will be like" when the war ends, and in : the years immediately following, for on that must greatly dep'end the : ability of the Dominion to achieve its own ambitions, whatever they ■ I i may be. For New Zealand has never been "insulated" from the world / !.and will not be in the future. These considerations alone should impel .."i,,: all of us to the realisation that the general question of repatriation and •:,i, rehabilitation—it is to be hoped a better word will yet be found ••••f .;;. deserves the best thinking and effort that can be given to it. Not "a ..irjhi; scheme," but "the best scheme" must be the objective, for nothing less rs,'i than the best was promised the soldiers before they left, , What has been done so far? It is possible that a great deal has i'lipl heen done, but the public does not know it. As was pointed out in these columns some time ago, there is no Minister of Repatriation in fe kjl New Zealand, though there is in Australia a full-time Minister Mr I,? Nash has announced that a Rehabilitation Department is to be set up and , one of hls colleagues has said that the Government has been disj cussing the subject with the R.S.A. That is one step in the right 1 d l re £ tlon - though a short one. What should be realised is, as the Leader Mil of the Opposition has urged, that this is not a party political question. ■m , one knows which party or parties will be in charge of the Government | when the war ends, or which will still be in charge after the returned • : ;f i soldiers, sailors and airmen have exercised their right to vote For that rif I reas on alone the Ministry of Rehabilitation (if that is what it is to be : >311 called) should have a special character, and be unlike any other Its •iii&ljl principal function will be to devise plans likely to be acceptable not % |°nnyl y to returned service men, but to the people as a whole and to #1 whichever Government may be in power when the time comes It t |i I should be enabled, and it must be willing, to seek the help and advice iPi of a great v ? net y of men, particularly the returned soldiers of the last Ihj. | wa r, men with experience of land settlement schemes of the past men aware of the possibilities of industrial development and men experienced | 'AH J n ad ult education and technical instruction. It should report at intervals ?? Parl) ament and the public, and as much as possible an idea of the m IIP-es u pon which it is working should be given the soldiers themselves .fcjkg The knowledge of the men overseas that diligent preparations are being f%l r ? ade for them on their return, and the opportunity that might be given IpJ them to suggest and to criticise interim plans, would give them | something additional to fight for. And here in New Zealand a great ||:| opportunity exists for the Government to enlist the help and co-operation SI °l £ e P e °P le in a cause which appeals to the hearts and minds of all •m j:] oi tnem.