ONE MINISTER ADVOCATED

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 136, 5 December 1918, Page 8

ONE MINISTER ADVOCATED

This afternoon the Advisory Board of the Patriotic Societies gave brief further' consideration to the subject of repatriation of our soldiers.

The Chairman suggested that the Government should go outside Cabinet and appoints Repatriation Minister a.business man of experience to carry out the work.

The Hon. J. T. Paul said it was evident that there was a family squabble in Cabinet, with the result that four Ministers were to be appointed to the board. With- four-Ministers nothing would be done. Sir James Allen,' who was in charge of the Bill, knew most about the subject, but the administration of the measure would be in other hands altogether. > Mr. V. J. Lamer said it appeared that no one Minister had the pluck to take the responsibility. Mr. Dougall remarked that it was simply scandalous the way in which the Government had dealt with the subject. The Hon. J. T. Paul agreed with the suggestion that a business man should be appointed Director of Repatriation, but the Minister in charge should be a responsible member of Cabinet In the Cabinet there were some of the best business men in New Zealand—the Hon. Arthur M.' Myers, for instance. Eventually the following motion was passed :—"That this board is emphatically of opinion that a Minister of Repatriation should be appointed, and that if more than one Minister is appointed the result will be disastrous. The board respectfully requests that the regulations to be issued under the Repatriation Act should be first submitted to a conference of the Advisory Board an* the Returned Soldiers' Association before being finally passed, the object being that the patriotic societies and the Returned Soldiers' Association should work in accord with the Government repatriation scheme."

An amendment to the .Repatriation Bill was brought down by GovernorGeneral's Message this afternoon, increasing the amount payable to a soldier to enable him to establish himself in business from £250 to £300. The Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bill 'was also introduced by GovernorGeneral's Message and read a first time.