SPIRIT OF UNITY

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 18 July 1928, Page 3

SPIRIT OF UNITY

EX=SOLDIERS’ INTERESTS. CO-OPERATION ESSENTIAL. GENERAL RUSSELL’S APPEAL

Unity among ex-service men in order that the spirit of comradeship developed during the Great War might be fostered and also in order that an effective organisation may be maintained, waia the keynote of addresses delivered by General Sir Andrew Russell (Dominion p; Ci.sident of the N.Z. R.S.A.) and Mr S. J. Harrison (Dominion secretary) I.atone about 50 returned soldiers at Eltham last evening, when the speakers commenced a. brief tour of the. Taranaki <1 istrict.

A civic welcome to the* vsitons wais extended by the Mayor o,f Efthaiin (Mr I. J. Bridget-), who said the town was honoured by the visit of a man such as General Rusisell', whom the Empire had l:oitoured, and who had. rendered such signal service. Though the Mayor was not a returned soldier, he wa*s interested :n the organisation for it® own sake. Chile there was no question of the services* rendered dui'ing; the Great War by .those- who had responded to the call being forgotten, it was advisable that the men who had seen service should keep alive the organisation founded on their return, and the R.S.A. had hits best wishes for success;.

In, referring to the Mayor’s courteous mention of the service, 1«3 had given during the war. General Russell said: “Such service as I rendered, I rendered with my friends of the division, a. mumber of whom are on the- benches here to-night.” On the motion of Mr S, R. Veitch (president of the South Taranaki R.S.A.), the organisation responsible for convening the meeting, Mr W. Ricketts (president of the Eltham Relumed Soldiers’ League) was voted to the chair. Referring bo the recent establishment of the League at Eltham, Mr Ricketts said it was not antagonistic to the R.S.A., hut when the organisation at Eltham was formed it had been decided it would not, in the meantime, affiliate with, any other both-. REVIVAL OF INTEREST.

in his opening remarks, General Russell congratulated the returned men ~*( the district on the of their organisation. The fact that' it had been formed gave evidence of the need for an organisation, and was in accord with the revival of interest by returned .soldiers throughout the Dominion as indicated in the increase of 3 per cent, in membership shown hy the I.S.A. last year. ‘When the first drafts were being sent homo on the termination of the war, continued the general, had heard comment in Cologne concerning the R.S.A. which had been formed in New Zealand 1 , and a proposal that another organisation should lie formed by .those then being repatriated, but the speaker had advised that supno rt bo given to the existing organiisaLien in order to avoid possible clashing of interests by separate bodies having, in the* main, .the one objective. « Referring to the present organisation in Eitham." he isaid that while he would like to see it affiliated with the R.S.A., the question was one for the. league members to decide according ito whether they considered that by so doing they nould be following the proper course, 1 and he ad vised that any possible step in that direction be deferred •until the league had given it proper consideration. In joining the R.S.A., the_ body would be asked to supply a capitation of 2s per member to headquarters, and he thought that when members .realised the amount of work being carried out by the R.S.A. they would not begrudge that amount.

The R.S.A. was attendling to the interests of all ex-service men with relation to pensions, land settlement, and a. wide range of questions arising l bio-ugh the rejmtriaffcion of soldiers. Many such questions had been isolvod satisfactorily—certainly in a. manner \vl)iell would compare, favourably with what had been done in other countries —but work yet .required to be dome, and in facing those matters a. comparatively f i n all organisation standing alone ooiui'd not ex-peet to exercise the influence which could be wielded- by one representative of similar interests throuighoot. the whole of the Dominion.

CANA DA’S CONSOLIDAff J ON. He referred to the -work of the late Karl Haig in consolidating the- organisation of ex-soldiers at Home, thereby enabling it to do the greatest good for the greatest number. He alsio- referred to a visit he (the speaker) had paid Canada with Eat! Haig when .some 15 •or 17 separate organisations had been welded into one. Previous to that the separate units had been approaching the common objective from different •angles -and making indifferent progress, but since the establishment c.f the. representative body things had gone amuck. ! better for the returned men in Canada-. Should the Eltham organisation join the association it could preserve its identity a,s a branch and would receive the benefit of anything the association could do ‘‘Tct keep together is an admirable principle,’’ concluded the general. With our organisation wo can keep alive the spirit of comradeship which wi'U do more than anything else to safeguard the peace of the future and go a long way "to the preservation of the spirit of goodwill in our community life.” “We want to feel that we have the backing of every returned man,’’ said Mr. Harrison. ‘‘While the association has had a great deal to do, there are some pretty troublesome problems yet to be dealt with, and in meeting them it is essential we should have unity and comradeship.”

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF. One of the .present problems related 1 to unemployment. According to latest reports there were 400 ex-service men in Auckland who were out of work, while a considerable number were in similar straits in Christchurch and Wellington. In Wellington last week the number was 100, some of whom were already being helped from the local Poppy Day funds. Since the establishment of the Poppy Day scheme the association had been instrumental in providing £40,000 through that channel for the relief of ex-service men. Till a couple of years ago the poppies had been made in France, and the money paid for manufacturing had gobe to help disabled French soldiers; but now the manufacture was being carried out in England, where it provided light work for 262 disabled exservicemen, and the Dominion quota oi purchases went to their assistance. So far as the association' was concerned, the returned man got any help available irrespective of whether lie was an actual member of the E.S.A. From sums made available, through the association, with subsidies, last year the total of £32,000 had been spent in unemployment relief. Under that heading alone the association was doing valuable work end merited support, and the more support the association received the better able would it be to make representations in the correct

quarter when dealing with ex-service-men’s affairs. Referring further to the. Poppy Day scheme, lie pointed out that tiie sum subscribed in the respective centres was, after allowing for the original purchase, available for local distribution. RECIPROCITY SCHEMES.

Reciprocity between Australia and New Zealand, and Great Britain and New Zealand, in affording help rekuired by ex-soldiers in the respective countries was another avenue in which the New Zealand Association had been able to carry out beneficial work. In this connection d recent visitor from. Australia had given much information to headquarters at Wellington, and among other mattef-s had pointed out that poppies for the Poppy l>ay scheme were now being made in Australia, and had suggested that New Zealand’s supply be purchased there. The association had been able to arrange with contemporary organisations in Australia for attention to the needs of New Zealanders there, and evidence of the big number of New Zealand soldiers now in Australia had been afforded in Melbourne on last Anzac Day, when the parade included 1200 men who had seen service with the N.Z.E.F. A branch of the N.Z.R.S.A. had been formed there. The association was arranging to give assistance available to Australians ancl to British ex-service men in New Zealand, the sum of £6OOO having been obtained from Home for the latter purpose, while by arrangement with the Home authorities New Zealanders wanting help were attended to at the High Commissioner’s office. There were in New Zealand 850 exservicemen wearing artificial limbs, continued Mr. Harrison, and as the result of negotiations over a lengthy period the association had been able to help those men with respect to the limbs provided, and was at present engaged in an endeavour to obtain for the amputee the right to choose the pattern of limb preterred.

PENSIONS INVESTIGATION. Representations concerning pensions constituted another, and perhaps the most important, branch of the association's activities, said Mr. Harrison, who described in detail many of the steps taken to make the operation of the Act more uniform and equitable. In recent negotiations the Cabinet had conceded nine out of ten points submitted by the association, and there appeared a very likely prospect that the final point would yet be granted, while of recent years the association had been able to help many individual claims f<h- pensions. Concluding with a. final appeal for support, to the organisation, iMr. Harrison was accorded the sustained applause of the meeting, which repeated the demonstration given previously on the conclusion of General Russell’s address. A wide range of questions received answers from General Russell and Mr. Harrison, both of whom, together with the chairman of the meeting, the South Taranaki R.S.A., and the visiting members of its executive, were accorded votes of thanks. The visitors were subsequently entertained at supper by the president of the Eltham League.