BILL AMENDED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 62, Issue 5, 17 October 1941, Page 8

BILL AMENDED

THE REHABILITATION PLAN. MEASURE PASSED BY HOUSE. (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 16. “These amendments are the result of discussions I had last week with the Returned Soldiers’ Association and they provide for two minor matters and one of some importance,” said the Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash) when amendments to the Rehabilitation Bill were introduced in the House of Representatives to-day. The Minister said that among the new provisions was one stipulating that a son or daughter of a deceased serviceman or of a discharged serviceman totally incapacitated as a result of his service or of a man who died while under service training in New Zealand should, if the child’s mother was dead, be entitled to the same assistance, financial or otherwise, under the first part of the Bill as if he was a discharged serviceman. Another clause altered the quorum of the Rehabilitation Board from two to three members, and the last provided that the chairman of the Board should report to the Rehabilitation Council from time to time on the proceedings of the board.

Urgency was granted for the passing of the remaining Bills on the order paper, namely, the Rehabilitation Bill, Statutes Amendment Bill and the Finance Bill (No. 2). Continuing the second reading of the debate on the Rehabilitation Bill, Mr W. J. Poison (National, Stratford) said the measure suffered from the same fault as other Labour legislation because it looked at the problem from the collective angle and was seeking to approach the time when there would be collective socialism. It created an atmosphere of benevolence instead of self-reliance. He asked the Minister of Finance what he had meant earlier in the debate when he sa\d that soldiers would be given the freehold.

Mr Nash replied that settlement would be on the basis laid down in the Small Farms Act.

Mr Poison, said that was not the freehold at all. The whole success of the Dominion was based on the freehold on which men made sacrifices to attain success. Servicemen would reresent it if they did not get the freehold.

Mr F. W. Doidge (National, Tauranga) expressed the opinion that whatever was done should be compatible with what was done in Britain and the rest of the Empire. It was necessary to plan so that the Dominion could produce on a competitive basis, and they had to find out how to plan and expand secondary industries and at the same time satisfy Britain in her export trade. Mr Nash, replying to the debate, said that some steps were being taken, although it would be a difficult job to find out what the men overseas desired to do when they returned. Mr Holland asked Mr Nash what Minister would be in charge of the rehabilitation scheme. Mr Nash replied that he thought that the Minister for National Service (the Hon. R. Semple) would be the most appropriate Minister to take charge of the scheme. The Bill was read a second time, put through its committee stages, read a third time and passed.