REPATRIATION PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17593, 5 October 1920, Page 4

REPATRIATION PROGRESS.

The latest report of the Repatriation Department* emphasises the .impression conveyed by previous reports that i this department is discharging a task of first-rate importance in a most sympathetic and efficient manner. In training discharged soldiers, finding them employment and financing them in businesses, the officers of the department appear to have been uniformly successful and to have placed the important branches of repatriation which fall to their care on a thoroughly sound basis. This may be judged as much from the very large number of men who have received repatriation benefits as from the fact that the department is now apparently drawing to the completion of its work. The number of men in training is gradually deceeasing and applications for employment are becoming fewer, indicating that the greater proportion of the men have been placed in suitable occupations which are proving permanent. The after-care work is one which is less susceptible to definite tests, but there is ample evidence that it is a very important factor in promoting the well-being of the least fortunate of the returned men. It would not be fair to judge the department wholly by its financial results, but the fidelity with which loans are being repaid and the small percentage of failures indicate that the department has shown considerable capacity in fitting men into suitable businesses. The excellent results obtained by the repatriation officers for a comparatively small expenditure will make* the country regret more than ever that land settlement has not been directed with the same resource and initiative.