The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1930. AID FOR EX-SERVICE MEN.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 October 1930, Page 8

The Daily News THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1930. AID FOR EX-SERVICE MEN.

In debating the report of the Ex-Service Men’s Rehabilitation ■ Commission in the House of Representatives members seem to have been imbued with a due sense of the responsibility resting upon the country. There can be no doubt that the view., expressed by Mr. W. D. Stewart as to the chief value of the commission’s report being its recognition of the cardinal principle, that employment must be found for disabled men, is generally approved, “not because of the inadequacy of the pensions granted, but because of the psychological aspect. ” Everyone interested in upholding the honour of the Dominion must inevitably deplore the fact that the waning interest and sympathy in returned soldiers is becoming more and more evident. Yet these are the men who helped to save the British Empire and the world at large from a calamity of immeasurable gravity. These are the men who were given a solemn assurance of a fair-stand-ard of living for the rest of their lives. These are the men for whom the public gave many thousands of pounds, to help them in times of stress, during illness anti when incapacitated by war disabilities —temporary and permanent; yet twelve years after the end of the war it has been found advisable to set up a commission to attach to the pensions Department an organisation that will find suitable ■work for disabled men, and enable them to take up vocational training. It is on the report of that commission that the Bill now passed by the House has been framed in order to meet the cases of men who are only now “breaking up” as a result of war service. Even so, the Minister in charge of the Bill had to admit that the Government, after the lapse of so many years, during which many of the returned men had to suffer in health and pocket, was not yet “in a position to do all that it could to help returned men.” More than one member who took part in the second reading debate expressed the opinion that the measure did .not go far enough, and it seems that even the best intentions of any Government will never do justice to the claims these men have upon the country. It is all very well to talk about sympathetic and sensibly administered provisions being of much service, but many claimants have found serious obstacles in the Way of their rehabilitation. Certainly the Bill does not go far enough, nor can it do so unless it deals retrospectively and honestly with those cases where returned men have been ■ refused help owing to treatment in hospital—at their own heavy cost —and loss of earning power, consequent upon a recurrence of a war disability. It is the men who have, in spite of all temptations to become a burden on the State, battled on, often by sheer strength of will, and, though suffering from shell shock, the effects of gas or other Avar legacies, have made good, that should receive a special measure of sympathy if there is really any virtue attached to the phrase “a grateful country.” Admittedly times are hard, but that fact should be regarded as a special reason why' the 'warm sympathy in evidence in the early days following the Avar should have continued. It was not for the lack of warnings that an adequate portion of the patriotic funds was not conserved for the relief of those who were bound to “break-up” in the not distant future. Because of that omission in the past it is obligatory on the part of the Government to take up the burden of finding work, sustenance and temporary relief for the ex-ser-vice men. They do not want charity of any kind, especially those who voluntarily enlisted at the first call; but many of them need work they are capable of performing, Avhile others can be trained to earn some contribution’ towards living expenses. So far as it goes the present Bill is on the right lines, and if, as is to be hoped, the time will soon arrive for extending the scope of the measure, its usefulness will be proportionately increased, always provided a real attempt is made to administer its provisions in a broad and sympathetic spirit. At most the present measure is only an instalment —a belated one at that—but the tenor of the discussion emphasises with greatclarity, the need not only for further legislation on the right lines, but also for reviving public interest in the welfare of the re-' turned men. The country owes them a duty as well as much, gratitude, and should not haggle over the payment, po matter what the cost may be.