THOSE WHO RETURN.

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 2888, 7 March 1916, Page 2

THOSE WHO RETURN.

Tni-iti. is another soro place Mint will havo lo he healed. Many ol' our young men who have been lo the war and have I'ought and suifered as only thoso who endured Iho campaigning , en Gallipoli could Miller are already home, again, and many more aro following ha id upon their heels. Our hoys gel an eiithusiasl ie .seiid-ojf, tho crowd turns nut lo welcome I hem hack again---and Unit's the Hid of fhe Croat Adventure so far as the Slate and the public aro concerned. The Dofunce Department, in order to wavea few pounds, rushes along tho issue of v discharge lo the returned men, and then the Goveruiiieiil. is quit, of llieui repudiates any further, responsibility, despite the fact that those men may he flick and broken and needing medical attendance for many months after their return home. It lakes the Pension Board some weeks to deal with the case* ol the men after their discharges have been issued-- how arc tho men who have been hailed a.s Heroes of Gallipoli io live between the day their discharge is signed ill Wellington and ihe day their pension begins lo come in? And v hen thoy get their pension, if is found wholly inadei-iiale for the needs of men who arc too weak fo do oven light, work (should ii be available- and who are in such a semi-invalid stale lh.it they need a doctor's'" attention ami the extras of living in older to build up their strength. We aro not drawing a fanciful possibility, hut staling canes that already have been actually experienced in I'Vilding and concerning which complaints have been made lo the Defence authorities in Wellington without- satisfaction. And all this time, whilst, they are so enthusiastic in their llag-wagging ami appeals for more funds, the Patriotic Societies generally are paying no attention to genuine eases of distress amongst returned men, who are 100 pioud to make any individual appeal. Why should they taint their already tried ami proved manhood 7 ft: is the duty- of every Patriotic- Society to take a paternal interest in every hero who lias returned broken in health. So far as we are aware, the Auckland Society is the only one that is worthy of the lei in patriotic. In that province there are lion, secretaries all over tho country who make it their business to get into touch with every returned soldier resident in their district.—and every weelc every such man receives a che<j.uo for sums ranging from 25s to fi()s per week (according In his needs) to help him over until his pension begins to come to hand ; and he also receives a .special gift should emergencies require it. Why cannot the whole Dominion lie so organised for the help of the helpless and the heroic? l_vi.ryl>ody's business is nobody's business—and it is a'crying shame that New Zealand should suffer the sin of benefits forgot.