H.—3o

1922. 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 of Repatriation to the Hon. the Chairman and Members of the Repatriation Board. Sirs,— Wellington, 20th July, 1922. I have the honour to submit herewith a report on the operations of the Department for the period ended 20th June, 1922. I have, &c, J. R. Samson, Director of Repatriation. The Hou. the Chairman and Members, Repatriation Board.

REPORT. The Repatriation Department was established under the provisions of the. Repatriation Act, 1918, and the controlling body is the Repatriation Board, comprising the following Ministers of the Crown : Hon. Sir William Fraser (Chairman) ; Hon. D. H. Guthrie (Minister of Railways, Lands, and Repatriation) ; Hon. W. Nosworthy (Minister of Agriculture) ; and the Hon. J. G. Coates (PostmasterGeneral and Minister of Public Works). The first financial assistance under the Act was granted early in 1919, and. after some three and a half years' operations Cabinet has now intimated that the benefits thereunder are to be discontinued as at the 31st December next, it being recognized that the work of re-establishing our discharged soldiers in civil life is nearing completion. The Department set out to help every discharged soldier requiring assistance to secure for himself a position at least as good as that relinquished by him when he enlisted, and, so far as lay in its power, to recoup him for any disability, physical or financial, suffered through war service. In order to do this it was necessary to find work for all those requiring it; to provide facilities for the educational and vocational training of partially disabled men and such as had lost opportunity ; to make suitable arrangements for the after-oarc and systematic following-up of all serious cases, including the blind, limbless, tubercular, &c. ; and to provide financial assistance for the purchase or establishment of businesses, for the acquisition of furniture to set up homes, for necessary tools and equipment required in the pursuit of vocations, for transportation to employment, and for the various other contingencies arising in connection with the absorption of the men.