LOOKING AHEAD

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10397, 30 September 1919, Page 7

LOOKING AHEAD

RECONSTRUCTION WORK sm JAMES A LEES' SPEAKS TO PET URN ED SOLDIERS. Sir Jar/.es Allen, Minister for Defence, received a hearty round' of applause when, at the invitation of the chairman (Mr J. P. Maxwell), ho addressed those present at the annual meeting of the Returned Soldiers’ Clubhouse Society last night. Sir James said the Returned Soldiers’ Club was a valuable institution. It could and should eventually bo made into. a permanent institution. Sotno had said that it would perhaps be better for such clubs to dio out so as to allow tho returned soldier 'to be entirely absorbed into civilian life. He did not agree with this contention. He thought such chibs should bo perpetuated so that the friendships made on active service could bo continued. Such clubs would prove of great value, not only to the returned soldiers, but to tho community at large. It would' be impossible for men who had been on active service for years to forget what they had seen and learnt, and forget the friendships they had made. And it was right, continued the speaker, that they should remember. Such a club was the place where those ;3riendhhips c>ouJd be renewed and strengthened. They should not make tho club the arena for political fights. Rather should it be the place where returned soldiers oould meet as olubmates in a place free from the strife of politics. The returned men would, a? they grew older, supplant ,the older generation, and he thought they could give valuable assistance in the reconstruction of New Zealand. “We,” said Sir James, "will be in our graves, but the work will have to bo carried on. Who better than the returned soldier fs fitted for the task?” Ho thought the returned soldiers and tho civilian population would be all the better for the continuance of these clubs and he hoped that tho right principles would prevail. (Hear, hear.) * The Minister also said the dubs could be helpful in solving the difficult problems—and they were difficult —associated with the repatriation of the soldier. They wanted the support and advice of the returned soldier in everything that would assist the Government to get the soldier back to civil life and progress. Association with such clubs would make the members better able to secure the safety pf the country and its future progress and prosperity. *

“The problem of the repatriation of th© soldier,” concluded Sir James, "is for you as much as ua. Our day will come to an end, and we will have to go—we will have tp make way for the younger men, and so we hope to see the returned men be returned to Parliament to assist in the great task of reconstruction and to work in tho interests of New Zealand and its people.”