REDRESS SOUGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 2 October 1934, Page 13

REDRESS SOUGHT.

Grievances to Be Placed j Before Authorities. IMPERIAL PENSIONERS. Ex-Imperial war service men in ■ Christchurch, at a meeting held in the Jellicoe Hall last evening under the auspices of the Returned Soldiers’ Asi sociation, decided to take steps to i place their grievances in regard to pen--1 sions and other questions before memi bers of the British delegation to the : British Empire Service League con- : ference in Melbourne next month. | The meeting was called to consider the question of appointing a direct representative of the. ex-Imperiai men , to attend the Melbourne conference. | but after a resolution had been passied urging that that be done, it was j found that it was not practicable to | give effect to it. Representations will be made to Captain Sir lan Fraser, the leader of the British delegation to the conference, and Captain Donald Simpson, the secretary of the British Empire Service League, who are at present in New Zealand. Sir lan FraseT will arrive in Christchurch on Monday. Representation at Conference. The Rev F. T. Read, president of the Christchurch R.S.A., who presided over an attendance of forty men, said that there was a wish on the part of ex-imperial men that one of them should represent them at the conference at Melbourne. New Zealand had , the right to send two delegates to the | conference and the R.S.A. was the only organisation that could appoint dele gates. The Dominion headquarters of j the association had decided that i General Sir Andrew Russell and the | lion W. Perry, M.L.C., should be the representatives from X'ew Zealano, and that, if possible. Mr B. J. Jacobs, of f Palmerston North, and Mr J. D- ; Harper, the association’s representative !on the War Pensions Board, should attend the conference as associate , members. The Christchurch executive, Mr Read • continued, had rirged that Mr J. A. East, representing the ex-imperial men, and Mr E. F. Willcox, the secretary of the association, should be con i sidered when the delegates were ap- : pointed, but he understood that if was unlikely that they would be chosen. There was not much chance of ex- ; Imperial men in New Zealand obtaining much assistance from the funds of ■ the British Legion, as the problems in the Old Country were so acute that the whole of the funds were needed there. The Christchurch executive had tried to get some arrangement made with the British Ministry of Pensions ; to recognise recommendations made by i the New Zealand War Pensions Ap- [ peal Board by ex-imperial men, but Dominion headquarters had advised : that it was useless making further j representations. Broken Down in Health, j Mr J. A. East, the representative of ! the ex-imperial men on the executive of the Christchurch R.S.A., reviewed the efforts of the association on behalf of ex-imperial men and said i they were getting more than their share of expenditure for the relief of unemployment. He urged the exj Imperial men to stand by the R S.A . I which was always ready to help them. I Many of the men who had accepted | lump sum payments in lieu of pen- | sions when they left England had I since broken down in health. Mr T. L. Drummond, a member of the executive of the R.S.A., said that there seemed to be an impression among ex-imperial men in New Zealand that there was no organisation in Britain to which they could turn, but ! he had with him five booklets issued | by the British Legion, which showed j clearly that some of the cleverest' men | in England were fighting the cause of j their comrades overseas. There were men going from Britain to the conference in Melbourne who were just as competent, if not more competent, than anyone in New Zealand to represent the ex-imperial men in the Dominion.