RETURNED SOLDIERS.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1414, 11 October 1923, Page 5

RETURNED SOLDIERS.

OTAGO COMPLAINS OF MUDDLE. (By Telegraph. Press Association.) DUNEDIN, Wednesday. At a smoke concert in Kaitangata, Mr Jas. Smith, in proposing the toast of "The Returned Soldiers," spoke strongly about the treatment meted out to those who had gone away to fight. He said he was not satisfied with the treatment the men had received, and the land settlement scheme was only a fallacy. Every man was not suited to the land, and every man should have been given a chance to make good in whatever vocation he was best suited. Men were applying every day for the remission of rates, and he knew for a fact that there were men on the land who were practically starving. Those at the head of affairs had muddled through, and the "Digger" had to pay the penalty for it. There was urgent need for the rectification of the land policy in vogue and some more satisfactory scheme to help the "Digger" should be inaugurated. Mr Whelan, in reply, stated that the returned men had had "a bad spin." There had been a great deal of the "We don't like to lose you but we think you ought to go" business. He would like to see the Government justify its action in charging the men so much for land. The need for better treatment was there, and something would have to be done both in regard to land schemes and pensions.