WORK FOR DISCHARGED SOLDIERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3218, 17 November 1915, Page 28

WORK FOR DISCHARGED SOLDIERS.

THE INFORMATION DEPARTMENT. WELLINGTON, November 15. An interesting statement on the working of the discharged soldiers’ information department was made to your representative by Mr Herdman to-day. “Despite the fact that the undertaking is a novel one,” said Mr Herdman, “ and that we have had no precedent to guide us, the preliminary work of the discharged soldiers’ information department is proceeding apace. The fitting together of the departmental machinery has occupied much time since the work was commenced about two months ago, but now that most of the initial difficulties have been overcome the staff of the office will, it is hoped, be able to devote most of its time to the really special work of the office —the finding of employment for soldiers who return to New Zealand. On November 8 we had recorded in our register .1232 names, not including the recent arrivals by the Tofua and Willochra, numbering 981. I think I explained before that on the arrival of a troopship each soldier is seen by an officer of my department and informed of the functions of the department; but we are not content with this necessarily hurried and perfunctory interview, so we arranged that later on a public officer shall call upon a soldier for the purpose of compiling a report. Seven hundred and_ thirty-four returned soldiers have been individually interviewed hy these officers, and reports have been obtained about the health, circumstances, and wishes of the men who have been seen. In all, 293 reports have been issued by the department, but have not yet been returned to us by the reporting officers; 114 cases are under further inquiry, 147 are awaiting notice of discharge from the army, and 461 cases have been dealt w'th and disposed of. Some of the men have left New Zealand, others have re-enlisted, some have intimated that they are hot in need of any assistance from the department, whilst others have obtained suitable employment through the medium of the department. No doubt some_of the men who have come back have succeeded in finding civil employment, and have not thought it necessary to notffy the department of th : s circumstance. These cases will be discovered by the local committees and reported to the head office in Wellington.” Referring to the other steps taken to promote the objects of the department since its origin, the Minister said that all the local bodies in the dominion had been circularised, explaining the objects of the department and inviting co-operation. An excellent response had been received, and ho thought that from this source most cordial support could be expected. The Education Boards had also been communicated with in a like manner, and offers to instruct maimed men in the trades usually taught in the technical schools and colleges had been received, and would bo taken advantage of by the department when the occasion arose. So far no case of total blindness had come to the knowledge of the officers of the department, but should any be brought to their notice he did not think the Government would have any difficulty in making sat'sfactory arrangements for the help of the soldiers so afflicted with the gentlemen who controlled the Auckland Institute for the Blind. The department was at present considering how best to arrange for tuition in bookkeeping and accountancy work to be given to soldiers who desired to follow this calling. It might interest people to know that a number of private employers throughout the dominion had made definite offers to give employment of various kinds. These offers had been duly recorded in a register kept in the department for the purpose of future reference. A leaflet had been prepared by the Minister of Lands briefly setting out the object of the Dischaiged Soldiers' Settlement Act, and soldiers who desired to secure land should obtain a copy of this publication and fill up the application which was printed on the inside of the sheet. When transports with returned soldiers arrived in future a copy of the leaflet containing an application form would bo included amongst other papers containing useful information which were handed to the men on their arrival in New

Zealand. Up to the present six soldiers had expressed a wish to settle on the land, and their cases had been notified to the Lands Department, which would no doubt take further action. The permanent head of the Agricultural Department was communicated with shortly after the discharged soldiers’ department was constituted, and advice had been received from him that he could accommodate a number of suitable men at the experimental farms and instruct them in the work of fruit-growing, poultry farming, and the other work usually taught at these institutions. When soldiers expressed a wish to bo taught work of this kind there would be no difficulty in making arrangements for the instruction of a limited number. The head of the Agricultural Department also informed them, when he was approached on the subject, that men taking up sections near Wellington could be instructed in the business of market gardening, flower-growing, fruit culture, and poultry farming by officers of the department in the head office in Wellington. In concluding, the Minister said : “ The short experience we have had of the work performed by the department has convinced me that the task that has been set ue is one of groat difficulty, and that as time goes on and the army of returned soldiers grows in size our duties will increase in weight and complexity, but I hive great faith in our system of recording cases, and the keen desire to be helpful .evinced by gentlemen who have become members of the local committees set up throughout the dominion leads me to believe that we will succeed in rendering valuable help to the men who deserve so much at our hands.”