SOLDIERS’ AFFAIRS.

Waipa Post, Volume XII, Issue 945, 22 May 1920, Page 5

SOLDIERS’ AFFAIRS.

TE AWAMUTU ASSOCIATION REMITS TO CONFERENCES. PENSIONS APPEAL BOARD. The Te Awamutu Returned Soldiers’ Association met last evening, the president (Mr Spenceley Walker) occupying the chair. There were also present: Messrs E. J. Walter, ,Wm. Teddy, H. T. Haselden, and the secretary (Mr D. M. C. Mcßurney). The president stated that the meeting had been called to consider what remits should be sent to the conference of Returned Soldiers’ Associations. Two remits—including the one asking that the gratuity be given to relatives of deceased soldiers —have been published in the Waipa Post. The secretary spoke in favour of relegating the remit already passed regarding the formation of a Pension Appeal Board to the Dominion, in place of the provincial, conference. Mr Haselden spoke in favour of the Appeal Board, as all other branches, the teaching service, the railway service, etc. —had such boards. All realised the anomalies of the present pension system. The secretary pointed out that the Medical Board held supreme power at the present time, and this was not right. However, an Appeal Board should be formed in each of the military centres —not one central Appeal Board. Whenever a soldier appealed at the present stage, the answer from the Pensions Department was invariably the same, and unsatisfactory. Mr Teddy considered that soldiers should stand up for themselves to prevent a repetition*of the state of affairs with soldiers that existed in the South African war.

The president considered that Pensions Appeal Boards should consist of non-military doctors. The secretary stated that this could not be hoped for were, the system to be placed on a State-controlled basis.

Mr Haselden suggested that the Hospital Boards in each centre should be the Pensions Appeal Board. The secretary moved that the Board suggested be composed of a magistrate as chairman, a member of the Returned S&ldiers’ Association, and a Government nominee. This personnel, he thought, would prove satisfactory. The motion was carried. Relating to the question of Asiatic immigration, Mr Haselden moved that the Government be urged to immediately amend the existing legislation to prevent the continued influx of Asiatics, and that the present educational test be made considerably more drastic.' This motion was carried. Mr Haselden also moved that the test of education be removed from the hands of the officers of the Customs Department to those of the Education Department. On the land question Mr Walter suggested that soldiers’ grants be expedited. In this connection the secretary asked that his hands should not be tied at the conference, and of this the Association approved. The president then moved that the Government be asked to facilitate the grants to soldiers, as the present delay was a source of hardship. Mr Walter added that any information known by the secretary in this respect should be brought up by the delegate to the conference. The mol ion was carried.