REPATRIATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 126, 30 May 1941, Page 8

REPATRIATION

RETURNING MEN

PROBLEMS DISCUSSED

R.S.A. SUGGESTIONS

The repatriation scheme must necessarily form a part of the post-war construction plan outlined by the Government, the repatriation committee of the N.Z.R.S.A. conference reported to the annual conference today, but thr magnitude of the plan made it slow of completion. In the meantime men were returning from the front and the committee recommended that a deputation should wait on the Government to stress the urgency of getting repatriation under way. An early start would have two advantages, the committee stated. It would provide for the men who returned first and would give valuable experience while the numbers to be dealt with were still small.

The committee recommended the introduction of legislation setting up a National Repatriation Council with advisory committees throughout the country. Both the council and the committees should be representative of interested organisations and service should be voluntary, the R.S.A. having the right to nominate its own members on all committees.

The committee also recommended that full use should be made of the Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment League for the rehabilitation of unfit or incapacitated men, and it was pointed out that the New Zealand War Amputees' Association, which existed within the N.Z.R.S.A., could assist with problems affecting amputees by serving on the proposed committees.

Remits dealing with proposed R.S.A. activities in repatriation and the disposal of funds for repatriation purposes were considered by the conference, and the report of the committee was adonted.