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Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16448, 30 May 1919, Page 2

Tho public are most anxious that the returned soldiers should receive every consideration on their return to the Dominion and that every facility should be given to the men to settle down to work again either in their

old positions or in any new ones which the/ prefer. In this desire the public have steady support from the press, which is always ready to forward the interests of'returned men in every possible way. In these circumstances one naturally turns to the reports of the meetings of the Returned: Soldiers’ Association in order to discover whether there are any serious grievances which peed redress. The chairman in his address made a'special point of the fact that the Goverment had no repatriation poligy and had hastily rushed a scheme through when the armistice was declared. Further the work which the Government should do was left to local patriotic committees. The point® the public are interested 1 in are not whether the Government has drawn up an ideal repatriation scheme, or whether the work is being done locally or by the Government, but whether the work js«being done satisfactorily. No Government can draw up a complete scheme, because it is impossible to foresee the difficulties which will arise, so we do not attach much importance to criticism under this head. Further the general opinion is that capable local committees are likely to do far better work than any Government Department, because they are acquainted with the local conditions and in many coses with the meu who have been repatriated.»The chief' cause for anxiety is "whether the local committees are .given a free enough hand or whether they are hampered in their action by constantly having to refer to the departments before decisions can be made. The Government has shown great wisdom in delegating its powers and the Returned Soldiers’ Association should recognise this and see that the delegation is real pnd nob merely a fiction. This seems a much more fruitful line of action than complaining that the Govenupent does not have a finger in every pie.

If the Berlin correspondent of the Daily Express is correct in stating that hundreds of thousands of Germans intend to emigrate to South America, Canada, and Australia in order to avoid taxation, and that official departments are planning to regulate the emigration, then it furnisheS l another proof of tho extraordinary mentality of the German people. Possibly German immigrants might he welcomed in some of tho South American republics, but we cannot imagine that, for a long time at any rate, they will be tolerated in Canada and Australia, nor yet in New Zealand. But just as tho Germans cannot realise that there was anything outrageous in their methods of warfare, so they cannot realise that they are not wanted in any docent civilised country. They will come to Australia and' New Zealand if they are allowed because they know that these are better countries than their own to live in. And' no doubt they will come, if allowed, for another reasonj for Tiic reason that actuated many thousands of those who in the years before the war went to England and Other countries, to become spies and to do propaganda work on behalf of tbeir fatherland. New Zealand and Australia have just deported a shipload of undesirables who have been interned since the war started, and we cannot imagine that the Now Zealand and Australian Governments will soon open the doors to admit German immigrants, oven if their object is merely to escape the taxation which they should pay on account of tho war. If that is their real object they should he confronted with a very heavy poll-tax here. If they arc suspected of a more sinister object they should bo kept off with a shotgun. They are not wanted in any case, s .