MILITARY DEFAULTERS.

Evening Star, Issue 25714, 11 February 1946, Page 8

MILITARY DEFAULTERS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—lf "Not Wanted" and " Second N.Z.E.F." were as practically concerned as myself in the welfare of returned soldiers, they could not indulge'in so many superficial irrelevancies, nor arrive at such inaccurate conclusions. Regarding "Not Wanted's '" complaint, about certain employers' refusal to grant preference to returned soldiers, that is the employing authority's responsibility, and blaming nonservicemen or military defaulters for someone else's fault does not help one iota to solve "Not Wanted's" problems, but only succeeds in making a solution more difficult. As for "Second N.Z.E.F.'s " promise that if he and some others he designates as " we " were in charge of the military defaulters, those would be doing work of value to the State, would he kindly detail the work and rates of pay ? His reply should prove interesting to all workers and students of economics. Why this eagerness to cry stinking fish and reluctance to discuss the economic aspect of soldiers' welfare? Not one word in either of their rambling criticisms supporting my request that our Dominion Executive concentrate on urging the Government for an increase in pensions, not a word about the economic value or otherwise of detention camps, not a word disputing my contention that only production and trade plus adequate power, can rehabilitate our returned men. However, in my fight to rid New Zealand of indefinite sentences and detention camps, I am in good company. _ The war Governments of Great Britain, Canada, and America recognised the moral, economic, and political danger of such a Hitlerian policy, and disbanded detention camps as expeditiously as possible. Incidentally, the reason why the democracies went_ to war .was to stop political opportunists oppressing minorities.—l am, etc., February 8. A. Caldwell.