The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1919. RETURNED SOLDIERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16821, 29 May 1919, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1919. RETURNED SOLDIERS.

We Lave no doubt that the DoaaiQioiL Conference of the Re-? turned Soldier's' Association took the wise course yesterday, when ; it rejected, by a majority of two fo one, a motion tor the abandonment of its non-'nolitical character. The Auckland motion did not propose that the Association should actually become a political . party. It proposed, in effect, that it should use its voting strength for the coercion ot political candidates. The Prohibition Party has used those tactics not without success, but they have not been popular tactics or anything but bad • for time to get even moderate satisfaction from them, and it has cause to know the difficulties and embarrassments of the practice. The politician who> is coerced, not persuaded into promising hisi pound of flesh, does not go ani ounce beyond it, and it is sur-i prising how many defects may' . be found in the letter of the bond. If the Returned Soldiers' Association should adopt such tactics it would make enemies where at present it has only friends. Since it is easier to commence political activities than ( to preserve a limit to them, the j natural tendency would be for it to become more and more political, and as all cannot think alike on politics, it would end, most probably, not as one political body, but as two or three. But, if these tactics must be danger 1 - ;ous for almost any association naturally non-political, there never was an organisation with less need to employ them than the Returned Soldiers' Association. The whole community recognises the great services that have been performed by its members. No reasonable claims can be made by them which, once they are understood, the politicians 1 and the public alike will not have the strongest desire to see satisfied. The Association has 25,000 members, .and it will have many more. If its desires are only made plain to the public and can be accorded there is no fear : that they will be treated in any indifferent spirit. The .advice of General Richardson to _ the Returned Soldiers' Association to avoid politics, because they could only cause dis- . sensipn, was without doubt sound, and their Conference has done well to follow it. Wie 'are not sure, however, that the Association has done as much as it can do in explaining to the public what the exact things are i which it wants, at this stage., for returned soldiers, and how they should be provided. The remits which,the Conference will pass should supnly much useful information of this nature, but the report which was presented to it, ■and discussions so far reported, can hardly be said to- do so. I There 'has been much condemna[tion of the Government's work, I but a lack, so far, of precise suggestions of what ought to be 1 done. Any body of men can decry the Government. The j Association can do much more than that, and a good deal of the j criticism, of the Government ( which has been • expressed by its members has been too one-sideu and too violent to be fair. Its tone would have been very different if more members had taken the trouble to consider not only what the Government has not done for returned soldiers, but what it has done. To speak as if the Government had done nothing for returned men and had no desire for doing anything' is to speak mere foolishness. A great deal has been done in increasing' pay and allowances in the last half-year, and though those concessions, including the gratuities which were not even asked for, can be attributed to the advance shadows of an event to come in six months time, it is more charitable and at least as ! reasonable to attribute them to a much greater event which hapIpened six months ago. "When 1 the Government refused to makedisbursements which have since been made by it it could not foresee that the war would end . in November last, or that it I would not continue with its junioue and unavoidable expenses for years to come-. As soon as it reached an end. and the financial position could be fairly seen, the mirse strings were unloosed. Repatriation DepaYtmexi* wis.

set up later than it should have beeiir and there is strong' cause why its anomalous system of central control should be improved upon, but there is no\ evidence that the Repatriation Boards are not doing 1 good work. The actual record of the Government's performances, as set forth in the "Soldiers' Guide," is one that shows a spirit far indeed from ungenerous, and full of consideration for the soldier. Mistakes have been made no doubt, but the repatriation of scores of thou-, sands of men of all conditions and Glasses is neither a simple nor an easy task. The Associa-. |tion, which knows the men, can help with it by more than destructive criticism. Its constructive suggestions oup-ht to be invaluable. We hone they will be many before the Conference closes, and in the months ahead, lhey will leave no need for political action. >