REPATRIATION WORK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17661, 23 December 1920, Page 7

REPATRIATION WORK.

; THE AUCKLAND DISTRICT. GOOD RESULTS ACHIEVED ] REVIEW BY THE DIRECTOR. " In a report to the Minister the director of repatriation, Mr. J. R. Samson, = says:— 1 " I bsg to report having returned from B a flying visit to the Honorary Repatriae lion Committees in the North" Auckland j district, namely, at Whangarei, Darga- £ ville, Heleusville, Matakohe, Rawene. 1 Kaitaia, and Kawakawa. s " The work has been carried out most ' harmoniously, and at trifling expense. The secretary of the Whangarei Coml mittee receives an honorarium of £1 per J week, and the other secretaries each receive 10s per week. Meetings are held ■ when required, generally once a month, * and practically ail the members of each ' committee continue to take an interest iu ; the work and attend the meetings fairly i. regularly- They are to be commended for e the VeTy keen personal interest tliey nave t taken in each soldier's application, with - the result thai practically every soidier in - North Auckland may now be said to Have been successfully repatriated. We may still expect to receive a few app.icationa for assistance from the larger district of Whangarei, and perhaps also one or two j. from Dargaville, but the other chairmen and secretaries agreed that that portion of the work; was to all intents and 'pur* ' poses finished with in their district*. They will, 'however, .continue to. take a, fatherly interest in those been 1 financially assisted on their recqrnmenda- , tion, and I anticipate, apart from cer* . tain fishing launch ventures, that practic- , ally the whole cf the money loaned will j be repaid to the department. 3 "I had a long talk vv.th the chairman 3 of the Auckland Board, Mr. Gillies, on . various aspects of the work, urn! found everything, so far as the Auckland Board r is concerned, entirely satisfactory. '1 hey f were well pleased with the manner in s which their recommendations had been re- - ceived by the Ministerial Board, and i anticipated almost immediately being iible 2 to further reduce the meetings to once a. . month, instead of once a fortnight as at , present. I urged the necessity at this - stage of repatriation of eliminating all _ applications for financial assistance . from i men who have been discharged some time 1 and couid honestly be considered success- , fully repatriated. " Up to the present in the Auckland , district there have been only three losses r written off by the Ministerial Board, and , I pointed out that there are undoubtedly , others in sight, of which we should have . more information. They complained. i however, that it is too difficult to have*, r loss written off. I confess that 1 have - referred back a number of their cases, e but all" I insist on is a *rr*»er preeis of » the case, showing that all reasonable and businesslike steps have been taken to obviate the locs before 1 will submit any case to the Ministerial Board. f "The Auckland staff, under Mr. Bur- ,' bush, is still very busy, and has placed ' in emp'ovaient 4844 men, arranged train- * ing for about 1600. and granted financial e assistance to 5374. The amount paid oat e to soldiers for busiuesrr?, furniture, e training, sustenance, etc.. bv the Aucke land office totals over £612.000. ond the e total collected {chieflv in small monthly '■'. payments) from soldiers to whom loans I ha've been granted, amounts to over £132.000. This gives a " '^ ea of *^ e lar "' 3 ? amount of detail offire work involved. * and at the same tiir.e one. ran realise what n it means to the State to have so m«ny e men satisfactorily sM.'ed in employment. " and given some stake in th» country, if r onH- bv reason of a small basin**!, n " cottage full of fumiture. or even a kit of „ tools." e s AUCKLAND BOARD'S WORK- ] OFFICIALS' EFFORTS RECOGNISED. 1 | The Auckland District Rejv>triati<in 1 j Board met yesterday, Mr. J. H<bert?c« * presiding. Forty business npp iraUons j I were dea't with, 17 of whiih ■nere re- ! commended. 13 not recommended, 5 ?| granted, 2 referred to the Lands Departj ment, and 3 withdrawn. There were £0 i ! furniture rppiications. <& being granie.'. j and 4 declined. F-rlv-one names were on '. ; the employment register at the commenceM ment of the w«k. and 51 fuither applications were received. Of the total, 21 ; i were p'aced, and 8. who failed to ren'v to I I communications, were deemed employed. J leaving 45 names stili on the register. j Thirty-six men were granted the retained | portion cf their substdv, 2 were granted > loans for toote of trade, i was granted ' ! sustenance while at a Technics! rJollege, 11 was granted fees, books, etc.. while l i studying at college, and 11 were placed in ' i workshops and factories as trainees under 3 i'the subsidised workers' scheme. 7 j A resolution wns parsed expressing the p i Board's appreciation of the work p?r- ---* * formed by the chairman, Mr. A. W, t GiUies, during the year about to close. - it was also decided to place on record the i board's high appreciation' of the valuable 9 work performed by the repatriation officer., s "Mr. F. Burbush, and his staff, during the past 12 months.; . •, . „ ..,,,,