HELPING THE RETURNED SOLDIER.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 December 1917, Page 7

HELPING THE RETURNED SOLDIER.

To the Editor. Sir,—l was gratified to learn by your sub-leader in yesterday's paper that the question is being raised as to whether a satisfactory and well established organisation for the purpose of dealing with tho many difficult questions which will arise when our soldiers return and are demoralised, is being formed. A riian who has left his civil occupation in' order to fight for his country becomes after a while very unsettled in regard to certain matters touching his future after peace has been declared. Whon he considers settling down to his previous employment, after the cessation of hostilities, he is overwhelmed with a host of mixed'feelings. But, to the man who was an indoors worker, be he a professional man, or a tradesman, the idea of continuing with his own particular profession or trade is most distasteful. In faftt. very few men return with any idea of following such a course. Fortunately, in most cases, such feelings are not lasting, and sooner or later fhe returned soldier realises that it is better both for himself and his country for him to recommence the work he understands. Nevertheless we miist look to it that the returned-man is well provided for until such realisations come to him. If such feelings as these overwhelm the healthy soldier, what must take place in the minds of those who through wounds or illness have been partially or wholly incapacitated from continuing with their previous occupations? Nearly, every Boldier who is invalided back home is suffering to a more or less extent from neurasthenia when be lands in the Dominion, and, I venture to say that owing to the strain our men at the front are a present enduring there #ill be many who return at the time nf demobilisation in a similar condition. Surely, then, the feelings of those seventy or eighty thousand demobilised soldiers will be in proportion to the feelings of the individual, and what will be the state of affairs in our Dominion within a month of their arrival unless a strong organisation is ready to receive them and curb their immature desires? A3 you say, the present system of attending to the various matters so vital lo returned men has many drawbacks on account of so many different departments participating in the handling of their affairs. In your sub-leader you have' referred to the way in which the Government lis already depending on local committees, 'boards and trustees, and various Patriotic Societies, to deal with difficulties of returned men. However, it is noticeable that there is one organisation you have omitted to mention, and, to my mind, it is one that will do a great deal towards solving this problem. I refer to the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association, tintil quite recently the membership of this body lias not been very large, but as men have returned from the front its membership has steadily grown in number, until now this organisation bids fair to become one of the most powerful in New Zealand. Everyone must realise that there is no man who can understand the returned soldier like the returned soldier. The number of men now returned w;ho have settled once more into civil occupations runs into thousands, and this numbor is increasing daily. When the returned men numbered quite a few the formation of the above association (known briefly as the N.Z.R.S.A.) was first conceived. Sfnce then, by dint of much hard thinking, deliberation, and voluntary labor, it has grown to its present dimensions. Its possibilities are enormous, and the help its members will he able to afford in the coming crisis will be unending. The sooner the Government realises this fact, the better for the Dominion. To the mind of the returned soldier there is only one .way in which such matters as your sub-leader alljtdes to can he satisfactorily and permanently coped with, and that is by the' Government establishing a Repatriation Department, to lie in charge of a Minister fitted for such a responsible position, and to he run in conjunction with the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association. Thanking you for the valuable space you have afforded me,—l am, etc. , A MEMBER OF THE N.Z.R.S.A,