NOISY MEETING

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 128, 3 June 1927, Page 8

NOISY MEETING

EX-SERVICEMEN'S LEAGUE

OPPOSITION TO R.S.A.

(By Telegraph.)

(Special ts the "Evening P»jt.")

AUCKLAND, This Day. There was more noise than method at the meeting of. the ex-servicemen held in tie Town Hall last evening to ventilate certain grievances against the administration of the patriotic fund and to demand the release of th: money accumulated by the New Zealand canteen during war time. Resolutions to the' effect were carried with enthusiasm, but it can hardly be said that the gathering approached the task in a sensible or businesslike spirit. Every speaker was interrupted by a running fire of irrevelant comment. There was a good deal of sense in the remark of one of the quieter members that it would have been better to hold the meeting on Sunday morning, when their minds were calmer and their spirits less disturbed. ■ Pandemonium also reigned when another member moved that future meetings of the league be held on Sundays, as there was too much beer present at that meeting for decent men. However, one object was attained, namely, a demand for an inquiry into the two funds, and that the administration be handed over to -the returned men. Another object was also achieved, but not so successfully. This was the formation of a new organisation to replace the Returned Soldiers' Association. Mr. Hall Skelton, who presided, said that the association had --i.tlived its usefulness, and the time had come for it to make room for a more active and virile body. He was subjected to much interruption, and the vote for the establishr ent of a new organisation called the New Zealand Ex-Servicemen's League was not unanimous. Mr. Skelton told one man that he could move an amendment, but that it was useless for all to speak at once. The advice went unheeded until Mrs. Emily Nicol went forward with uplifted hand. She stilled the disorder and supported the resolution because she had undertaken to do the work the Returned Soldiers' Association should have done. T'le statement brought a vigorous defence. An ex-soldier challenged the assertion that the Returned Soldiers' Association was asleep or that Mrs. Nicol or anybody else had done its work. Fr-m the last annual meeting of the Auckland Association a remit had gone forward to the Dominion Conference that the interest on the canteen funds should be made available for assisting ex-soldiers. The only way by which they could do anything was by. stacking together. Half a dozen more speakers were immediately on their feet, and eventually the floor was yielded to a man who claimed four years 182 days' service. "In my opinion," he said, "the canteen funds sltbuld be equally divided between surviving-, soldiers and the relatives of those'wlio fell." '.. .: It was decided to admit the South African veterans to the new league The chairman (Mr. A. M'Cormick) of the Provisional Committee stated that the league would get a move on in the direction of providing permanent employment instead of a day at Point Chevaher or other relief works. He said that the sponsors of the league had a scheme which would give wfrk to aU returned soldiers if somebody would provide^he capital. He was /illing to up £-00a a"yb°<ly who would put