WAR RELIEF FUNDS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 57, 5 September 1934, Page 16

WAR RELIEF FUNDS

Two correspondents write with reference to letters addressed by returned soldiers to the War Relief Association and described, by Mr. A. Macintosh as "insulting, unjust, and inaccurate." "An/.ac" maintains that the statements in the second letter are accurate. "As for Mr. Mitchell's remarks about 'real soldiers,' I should imagine that a man who volunteered with the Main Body and saw active service- in Egypt, Gallipoli, France, and Germany, being away from New • Zealand 4 years 339 days,could 'be called a real soldier, more especially as he had a clean sheet all through, and'did not ask or look for soft little jobs behind the line. This fact Mr. Mitchell made no reference to, although reference was made to the short service of the writer of the first letter. When tho Army of Occupation arrived in Cologne, in which a remnant of the New Zealand Forces were included, it was the first concern of the soldiers billeted with the German people to see that no German woman or child was in need of food. Now in New Zealand apparently the soldier is very much in tho wrong if he asks for or tries to obtain sufficient food to keep his own womenfolk and children alive. Times have changed since '1918. ... In fairness to the soldier, Mr. Mitchell should have mentioned that the assistance given was made up as follows: £50 as a gift and £50 as a loan, both granted in 1919, fifteen years ago, the object being to help the soldier to rehabilitate himself in civil life. This the soldier apparently quite successfully managed to do, as he has never approached the association since, until this winter, when his position became unbearable. I would not for one moment suggest that the War Relief Association has not done a great deal for returned men, but when it gets an urgent appeal and does not investigate it, then I say that it is not doing its part in assisting returned men as the citizens would wish."

"Sunset" refers to the first letter of which Mr. Macintosh said that according to records the writer had been abroad about only a year and had seen no active service, *nd that he had repeatedly been in trouble with military and civil authorities. "The first assertion (states "Sunset") I may state is greatly inaccurate. I am a war pensioner' and have been ever since my return. The pension was granted for war injuries received in the front line after our return from the Somme in 1916. I was a member of the Main Body but did not leave New Zealand until the 9th reinforcement, served in Eevpt and France, and returned incapacitated in 1917. . . . The £20 referred to extends over a period of seventeen years, or approximately 23s per year, and because of this the War Relief Society disqualifies mo from further gratuity from the funds regardless of destitution." "Sunset" further submits that girls and non-soldiers should not be employed by the patriotic societies while ex-soldiers are in great distress. If the funds are to be preserved for future use, who will benefit, as totally incapacitated men are provided for? The soldier with a small pension should be given assistance. ,