SEARCH FOR WORK

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 97, 29 April 1929, Page 10

SEARCH FOR WORK

NEW ZEALANDER'S TRIALS

(From "The Post's" Rtprutntatlva.) SYDNEY, Hth April. Lieutenant C. V. Mott, D.C.M., M.M., C. de G., a -man with a notable war record, as his decorations would indidate, has some reason to doubt the sincerity of those who cried out during the war that the men who gave their- services for freedom would never be forgotten. Mott feels that he has been forgotten ever since ho was discharged from the A.I.F. medically unfit. He rose from' the rank of private, and a brilliant military career came to an end when ho was seriously wounded on the Western Front. He has never recovered from Ms war disability, but he is fit to work and willing to undertake harder work than he is fit for. Still his search for work has been in vain, and even if tho Government failed to come to his assistance, it seems remarkable that the Returned Soldiers' League did not display greater interest in his misfortune. But to the honour of the leaguo let it be said that one of the branches is now able to do something for him.

Mott is New Zealand-born, but ho transferred to Australia just beforo the war broke out, and ho enlisted with the A.I.F. Last April, after a long spell of varying fortune, ho found himself stranded in Sydney, and as no work was offering there he decided to go to Molbourne. Having but 255, he stowed away on a boat. Melbourne was just as unkind to him, so he stowed away again and went to Western Australia. There ho mot Colonel Pope, the Commissioner of Railways, his old commanding officer. Colonel Pope,did not offer him work, he said, but told him to go into tho country. This he did, and was able to make a few shillings at Kalgoorlio selling art union tickets. Then ho had a month's work as a cleaner on the Trans-Australian Bailway. Finishing up on the' railways, ho went to Monzies, and spent threo months there, securing a few days' work. Thinking that work would be plentiful at Perth about Christmastime, he returned to that city. However, he had no luik at either Perth or Fremantle, even though he expressed a, willingness to work for a few days' food and n .bed.

Addrossing a meeting of returned soldiors at Katoomba, Mott said that on Chj-istmas Eve he did not have a bite of food up to 5 p.m. His position was so desperate that he went to the police station and asked tho police to lock him up for the night, as he was so hungry and could find nothing to eat. At the police station he met a minister.of the church, who gave him food and money. Being satisfied that there was no work to be found in the West, Mott stowed away on an English mail boat and came to Sydney. He hid'in the motor-boat by day, and he obtained food from the firemen's quarters at night. All he had for his Christmas dinner was a dry biscuit.

It was at Katoomba that Mott found a sympathetic soul, an electrical engineer, himself a Digger, and through him secured a temporary position in the council. Efforts are now being made to secure for him permanent jrork.