Back from the Army The general, approval which the Government's
demobilisation plan has evoked is fully justified. To be fair to every individual involved in so vast an operation is beyond hope ; the existence of a certain number of hard cases is inevitable. But the broad justice of the plan is incontestable, and the Government has been wise in not only announcing the various steps it intends to take, but the reasons for them ; for in almost all, if not in all, cases the reasons are sound. The plan is to divide men available for demobilisation —the Japanese war and the occupation of Europe will still make large demands on man-power—into two classes, those in Class A being released under a priority system based on a combination of age with length of service, while Class B consists of men, notably builders and teachers, urgently needed for reconstruction work at home. These latter are released only temporarily, and are subject to possible recall, though there is, in fact, no reason to suppose they will ever be transferred back. There is, and for reasons given can be, no distinction between married and single, or between men in different theatres of war ; all will take their turn on the basis of age and length of service—apart, as has been said, from the indis- pensable men' in Class B, and these will be released as individuals, not on any wholesale scale. The country has shown its good sense by its approval of a scheme which the Government has shown much good. sense in formulating.
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