THE RETURNED SOLDIER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10089, 1 October 1918, Page 8

THE RETURNED SOLDIER

PROBLEMS TO BE FACED ADDRESSES BY MINISTERS. At tho annual meeting of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Clubhouse Society last night speeches were made bv Sir James .alien and the Hons. A. itf. Myers and I>. K. Guthrio, concerning the problem of dealing with returned soldiers. Sir James Allen said that there were serious problems netore New Zealand in connection with tho war. As tho days went by and the men came back from tho front we became more and more aware of the very serious problems ahead with regard to sick and wounded men. It was by no means easy to successfully deal with the various cases which arose. Progress was however, being made in the matter and three medical men had now been obtained from England who had obtained experience in dealing with eases presenting special difficulty. There was a class of men who had come back suffering from shell shock, and nervous breakdown. This was the worst class to deal with. He did not know whether the medical men had vet discovered a settled plan of dealing with this sort of patient. He had been reading an article on the psychology of the wounded soldier whose nerves had been affected, but had been unable to gather whether the medical men had vet discovered a method of getting to the root of such ailments as neurasthenia and taking elfective action. He was in hopes that in view of tho special attention now being devoted to that branch of medical science some good would result. There was no doubt tho incapacitated man who came from the front deserved sympathy, but that sympathy must not be misplaced. It was possible to hi too kind or too hard with him. How. evoi. thfc medical men were at work and it was to be honed that they would be ablo to evolve something of practi cal benefit. It was found, of course, that a lot of men came back unable to take up their old occupations. For theso a great deal had been done by the Government, though much publicity had not been given of the fact. Perhaps it -would bo a good policy of the Government and the medical men to givo a little moro publicity as to what was actually being done. Though much had not been recorded, a good start had been made, and so far as members of the Government were concerned they would not be satisfied until all problems affecting the repatriation of the soldier had been successfully grappled. Tho Minister for Deience went on to say that everyone- must have been delighted to road in the newspapers during the last few weeks as to what had happened on the battle fronts. (Applause:) All New Zealand must feel proud of the share their soldiers had taken in the great struggle. £Lo was satisfied that when, tho history ot tho work done by the Now Zealand Division came to be written, the history would thrill tho hearts of those who came afterwards. Not only was it a difficult problem to know how properly to deal with tho wounded, tho difficulty extended to those who were fit and well. It had been his business to attempt to understand what had been done elsewhere with regard to the repatriation of soldiers, and his colleague, Mr Gutbrie, who was in charge of the 1 Discharged Sol-

diers' Department, had been directing his attention to the subject Where a disabled man was not fit for ms former occupation he had to be trainfor another form of employ men*. A good deal had been dono in England in regard to curative treatment, including an occupation designed to help a man back to tJio uso of his.limbs and muscles. A good deal had been dono by General Richardson in regard to the oducation of the soldier. (June an extensive educational scheme bad been inaugurated. What the strength of the staff engaged was he did not know, hut General Richardson had cabled for £3<XK) to start tho scheme, and the money had been granted. The Government here would have -to coordinate its work with what was being dono in England. At Rotorua a commercial course of instruction bad been started, and tenders were advertised for the orection of workshops, to cost £3OOO or .£4OOO. He wished to express his gratitude to the New Zealand branch of. the Red Cross Association for the roal work that had been done for soldiers on their return. It had arranged for workshops at iiotorua and Hanmor. No greater good could be done for a returned man than to make him feel that after all happiness in life could be best measured by some useful occupation. The subject, continued Sir James Allen, was ono in which undue haste must not bo shown. It must be pursued cautiously and practically. He had studied all the systems in vogue in Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and America, and everywhere it would be found that- the same dinij culties had to bo facedi The repatriation of the leturned soldier eoncorned so many departments of trie I State that it was difficult to coordini ate the work under one man. ProbI ably tho best solution would be to | have co-ordination under some comI mission. Canada had formulated proi posals on fairly good lines, and pos- | sibly these would be followed in New Zealand What was done must be of real practical value. A great hglit was before New Zealand after the war | —commercially, industrially, morally, and physically—but he was satisfied that all conditions would bo faced by the people courageously and with a determination to secure success.

The Hon. A. M. Myers said, he would like to heartily associate himself with the remarks of the Acting-Prime Minister. So far as the club was concerned it should bo regarded as a haven of rest until a returned man had a fair opportunity oi deciding on his future, ho agreed that there was a good deal in the suggestion of insufficient publicity of the doings of the Government. Thero might well be a Minister for Propaganda. Sir James Allen could be assured that all his colleagues would lend a helpful hand so far as the repatriation of the soldier was concerned. There was no man in New Zealand who had devoted anything like the attention Sir James had done towards "the solution of this intricate problem. Mr Guthrie was also working enthusiastically in the matter. Touching upon financial matters Mr Myers remarked that at the outbreak of the war we owed somo ninety-nine anrf a quarter millions. Probably at .the end of the financial year we would owe approximately 186 millions. The interest and sinking fund on that amount would not be less than £3,300,000, and it was estimated that the pension commitments at the end of March would amount to a million and a half. That meant that £4,800.000 would have to be provided for. This seemed a large sum of money, but with the wonderful resources of the country all that was necessary was a sane and vigorous policy. The Hon. D. H. Guthrie added his congratulations to those who had organised the club, and took the opportunity of explaining awav an idea which had gained ground that he had no sympathy with the returned soldiers' organisations. All that he had suggested was that the clubs must not bo used as a means to keep young men from, getting back to a useful civil occupation. He had been quite satisfied from what had happened at the Auckland Conference that the clubs were being conducted in the proper spirit.. The Government fully recognised its duty in regard to tne repatriation of the soldiers. It had spent a million on land for the soldiers, £500,000 in monetary assistance to aid them to go on the land and .£IOO.OOO to enable them to buy homos. At least 40 per cent, of the returned soldiers had positions to go back to, and SO per cent, required no assistance, so the outlook was not so serious as many people supposed. Of over 20.000 returned men the Discharged Soldiers' Information Department had only lost the run of 189, and there were 40 different local committees at work.