DISCHARGED SOLDIERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24297, 14 May 1940, Page 11

DISCHARGED SOLDIERS

RESPONSIBILITY FOR HELP QUESTION DISCUSSED MEETING OF PATRIOTIC COUNCIL The responsibility for giving assistance to men who had been accepted for service with the military forces and then discharged was discussed by a meeting of the Otago Provincial Patriotic Council yesterday. The difficulties of some of these men were explained to the meeting by Mr A Cameron, who was received as a representative of the Dunedin Recruiting Committee. It was said that the council, would be willing to do what it could if the granting of such assistance came within the regulations, and it was decided to obtain further information on the subject. Mr Cameron spoke of the difficulties of men who had been accepted for military service but who were put back into civilian life through no fault of their own. There were men, for example, whose ears could not stand up to the noise of explosives, young airmen whose nerves had been shocked, and so on. All of these men did not need assistance, of course; but probably 5 per cent, of them or more did require help. The military authorities did not accept responsibility for more than four weeks, and he suggested the council would be justified in giving assistance out of its funds. A further task was to find work for these men again. Without Civilian Clothes If the giving of assistance of this nature came within the regulations, the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) said, the council would be willing to do what it could. The position had to be clarified, and he proposed soon to--take up the question with the Minister. Men who were discharged had to hand in their uniforms, and they could not collect their pay until they did so. He had had some of these men call upon him and been told that they were without civilian clothes and that if they could not collect their pay and so buy clothes, they could not hand in their uniforms. Mr F. W. Mitchell thought the council was morally bound to help such men. It was clearly the responsibility of the defence authorities, the Mayor said, to give assistance to men accepted as fit after | thorough tests and then discharged. t The council decided to seek further information on the subject. Applications Granted An application for sports equipment, including Rugby football jerseys and stockings, from the Hillside Training Centre was met by a decision to provide equipment only. On the application of the necessitous cases committee of the Mayoress s Relief Committee, the council decided to grant relief up to £lO each to two women whose husbands were on active service, and whose joint home had been destroyed by fire.