HOME FOR EX-SOLDIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20987, 25 September 1931, Page 12

HOME FOR EX-SOLDIER.

REJECTION OF OFFER. A FAVOURABLE OPINION. COUNTRY WORK PROBLEM. A reply is made by the ex-soldier concerned to the letter of "Suburban Farmer," whoso offer of ;i free cottage, milk and firewood and an area for growing vegetables was rejected by the man he selected because U>e man's wife objected to the bathroom. " ' Suburban Farmer,' " he states, "advertised for a returned soldier with a pension to milk four cows night and morning, in return to receive free milk and a free cottage, not free firewood, as he states. As I was ill with influenza, I could not go out lo Mangere to look at the house, but my wife rang up and was told that the house was not elaborate but was a comfortable four-roomed cottage with a bathroom. When wo arrived we decided that we would endanger our lives and our children's lives by living in the cottage, as it seemed damp and uninhabitable. One bedroom was outside, off a verandah, and had holes in the floor; the other bedroom was inside, which meant going in and out at night to the children. There was a stove in the kitchen. but no other fireplaces. "The galvanised bath was out on a lauding, which had three walls, a sack taking the place of the fourth wall. The chipheater had not yet been installed. The sheep had been gambolling, on the verandah. Wo were sadly disappointed, as we thought that this kindly farmer wanted to help the returned soldiers. Now I am of the opinion he wanted his cows milked for nothing, as he should have been ashamed to offer such a miserable cottage to a man who is down on his luck through the effects of the war. I trust this letter will remove the slur that has been cast upon unemployed returned soldiers by 'Suburban Farmer's' letter. The accuracy of my statements can bo borno out by tho driver of the lorry and two men who accompanied him with the furniture." An Excellent Chance. A different complexion is put on the case by Mr. A. L. Nugent, who is a disabled soldier and has taken a prominent part in soldiers' affairs in Auckland. With another disabled soldier who has been accustomed to country life, ho visited tho farm in Mangere. In their opinion the cottage is quite a fair type of farm cottage, which could be made a comfortable home. It has two bedrooms, a kitchen and a scullery, off which is the bathroom. The end of the bathroom is curtained off, but there is nothing to prevent anyone knocking a door together if it. is wanted. They consider the chance a good one for many disabled men, even men with a leg amputation, for in return for milking four cows there is free rent, milk and firewood and a substantial area of excellent land, so situated that some crops could probably be produced out of season. This area, the owner informed them, would bo extended by shifting back a fence if desired. In the cottage were one or two articles of furniture and two linoleum squares. The owner's wife frequently drives to Auckland in her car and would have been willing to take the man's wife at any time. "1 am certain," said Mr. Nugent, "that there are unemployed disabled men without the responsibilities of a city home, who would jump at this chance, and I have asked the owner to give, me a day or two in which to find a suitable family. The idea that the house is unhealthy seems ridiculous, seeing that the last family included four children and that iu 11 years there was no sickness. I would be sorry if tho adverse judgment of one man gave the public the impression that unemployed soldiers as a whole were unwilling to take opportunities existing as far away from the city as Mangere." Another Experience. "Waitakere" writes: "I would be the last to brand ex-soKTlers as non-triers, but I can match 'Suburban Farmer's' experience. 1 wanted a man for a week and got the Returned Soldiers' Association to select one of a type suitable to live with the family and sleep in the home. 1 offered 14s a day and undertook to drive the man out on Monday and bring him Lack to Auckland on Saturday. The selected man decided not to go. He said his wife objected to him going out of town. I was rather disgusted but got another soldier, an elderly Cockney, who had served in the British Army. He was glad of the chance, was a perfect gentleman in the liojise and gave me a good week's work. But tho New Zealander. I presume, preferred to walk the city streets. Incidents of this kind seein to suggest that the dole spirit is working here like yeast, and I am inclined to think that one of the problems of tho matter is the disinclination of some wives to leave the zone, of the city lights or to allow their - men to go. Instead, they whine and drive their husbands into the charity queue."