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1920. NEW ZEALAND.

REPATRIATION DEPARTMENT (REPORT REGARDING THE ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS OF THE).

Laid on the Table of the House, of Representatives by Leave.

The Director ok Repatriation to the Hon. the Chairman and Members of the Repatriation Board. Sms,— Wellington, 16th July, 1920. I have the honour to submit herewith a report on the operations of the Department for the period ended 20th June, 1920. I have, &c, J. R. Samson, Director of Repatriation. The Hon. the Chairman and Members, Repatriation Board.

REPORT. The Repatriation Department was established under the provisions of the Repatriation Act, 1918, for the purpose of helping every discharged soldier requiring assistance to secure for himself a position in the community at least as good as that relinquished by him when he enlisted for war service. RKPATRIATION BOARD. The controlling body is the Repatriation Board, comprising the following Ministers of the Grown : Hon. Sir William Fraser (Chairman); Hon. Sir Francis Bell (Attorney-General); Hon. D. H. Guthrie (Minister of Lands); and the Hon. J. G. Coates (Postmaster-General and Minister of Public Works). ORGANIZATION OF DEPARTMENT. In order to ensure the expeditious handling of all soldiers' applications for assistance a policy of decentralization was adopted, and for this purpose the Dominion was divided into four districts, known as the Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago Districts. In each of the four centres District Repatriation Boards, composed of prominent citizens nominated by such bodies as the Returned Soldiers' Association, the National Efficiency Board, the labour organizations, and the industrial, commercial, and patriotic interests of the community, were established, and departmental offices were opened and staffed with discharged soldiers under the control of District Repatriation Officers at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Repatriation Committees on a similar basis were formed in the chief provincial towns, and offices with paid staffs were established in the following centres : —■ Hamilton .Napier Wanganui Nelson Timaru Rotorua Hastings Palmerston North Blenheim Oamaru Gisborne New Plymouth Masterton Greymouth ■ Invercargill.

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