SOLDIERS' CLUBS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 8 February 1918, Page 4

SOLDIERS' CLUBS.

The Hon. 0. W. Russell, Minister of Internal Affairs, is somewhat belated in his reference 1o soldiers' clubs. After clubs have been provided at Wellington, Palmerston North, Mas- i terton, and elsewhere, and Ministers ' of the Crown have publicly admitted the usefulness of such institutions, Mr Russell solemnly adjures the. Auckland folk not to create distinctions between soldiers and the rest of the people, and states that thorn en should he encouraged to return to civilian occupations and associations. The cloven hoof is revealed in the final observation of the Minister, that "the patriotism of the people should ho directed to supporting the existing funds for the benefit of soldiers pind their dependants." The logical conclusion to ho drawn from this remark is that the Government desires to transfer its own obligations in the matter of soldiers and j their dependants to the shoulders of the patriotic people of the Dominion. The Minister has placed an entirely erroneous construction upon the ohjects of soldiers' clubs, acid his Cabinet colleagues will scarcely be propared to endorse his extraordinary communication to the friends of the. soldiers in Auckland.