BASKETMAKING FOR SOLDIERS

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 66, 18 March 1919, Page 11

BASKETMAKING FOR SOLDIERS

THE EOTOBTTA GRIEVANCE. RETURNED MBX'S OPIKIOXa T'nc Defence Department's prohibition of basket-making for personal profit by soldipr? in hospital was discußfied at' a nipetin<: of permanently disabled men at the c-o!dic-r".s Chib yesterday afternoon. The proliibition was criticised a« tendinpr to discourage men from voluntarily undortakinp the work with the object of earning- their livinc by it after ilischarpre. The matter was referred to a committee appointed by the meting to further the interetts of disabled men. The offer; of the prohibition has been iiT->.-t felt at Rororna. where- the industry had reached big proportions when the Department stepped in, «nd put a etnp to it. The baskets were readily sold to visitors at pood priee3, and the workroom was often found too small for thp number of men who wished to work there. When the authorities intervened, the only men who continued basketmakinp were those who had been directed In undertake it as their work under the curative manual training scheme. The result lias been that it has ceased to be a hobby, and is no longer a means of enabling injured men to earn a few pounds against their return to civil life. A returned soldier, who had made tiiis-kets for nearly a year at "Rotorua, whileu ndeTgoing treatment, told a reporter that the money he had made by this mean- helped him a great deal on his discharge. Tie also declared that the prohibition oould not be justified by the practice in England, because at Hornchurch he and others had 'been encouraged to take up handicrafts, the products of which ivere sold for the hr-nefit of the men engaged. He re-

reived instruction in cabinet-making there, and turned out one piece of furniture which was sold for £15.

At the Auckland Hospital annexe the question is not a burning one. as it is at ■Rotnrua. The men at the. annexe originally took up basket-making as a hobby pure and simple, and never pnught to make money out of it, the facilities for selling the baskets being Irs? that, at Rotorua. Two or three bazaars used to be held each year, when articles of wood, leather, and wickerware made by the patients were sold, but that was all. Now, under the compulsory handicraft scheme, a certain niirt'Vr of men are sent for instruction in wood-carving, paker-work. embossed leather-work, and basket-making. All the necessary materials are supplied 'by the Government, which takes charge of the finished articles. As a consequence only those men who are allotted to the work—most of them having injured hands —can undertake it. and the number of men engaged is only a fraction of what it used to be. The only grievance of the men engaged in the work is that they are forbidden to retain any of the r.rticles they make. This naturally takes away some of their interest in the different handicraft-. The manual training scheme at the annexe at present covers only woodwork ...nd the crafts mentioned. Commercial classes are also held, but the scheme does not yet extend over the whole field originally mapper! out, nor are ,i[] convalescent patients br-oiigTit" finde/r-l^.