Story: Veterans’ assistance

Soldier settlement: '15,000 miles to anywhere' (2nd of 3)

Soldier settlement: '15,000 miles to anywhere'

Many farm settlements created for returned veterans of the First World War were criticised as remote and uneconomic. In this 1917 cartoon James Allen, the minister of defence, gestures at a returned soldier slumped in a home-made shelter in the bush, having been settled on '15,000 miles to anywhere station'. The minister insists that the veteran is 'nice and comfortable'.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: A-312-1-193
Cartoon by William Blomfield

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Mark Derby, 'Veterans’ assistance - Economic rehabilitation', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/cartoon/31964/soldier-settlement-15000-miles-to-anywhere (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Mark Derby, published 20 Jun 2012