TOO OLD. WHEN ?

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 212, 8 September 1941, Page 6

TOO OLD. WHEN ?

In an address given a few weeks ago I made reference to the Government s failure to co-opt the services °f men experienced in commerce and in crafts, and I referred to the fart that there were many accountant* many highly-qualified engineers and many experienced organisers, who had offered their services to the Government in anv capacity, but their offers had * been declined because it was .considered that they were "too old." Although experienced officers are available, it is apparently the intention of the Government to place these men on social security, to force them to become a burden upon the State, and to co-opt the services of girls, who are needed to-day in factories and in other essential industries. The urgent necessitv of co-opting the services of experienced men is revealed in a report published by the Auditor-General. Throughout Xew Zealand, and certainly i ll every military district, there is a shortage of militarv equipment, and yet, according to the report, "trained officers were not available for a thorough check on army stores." * have in my possession documentary evidence to prove that there is really no limit to the number of trained officers available, and that their services have not been accepted because it was considered that they were "too old at 50 vears " If these physically and mentallv fit men ot Xew Zealand are '"too "old at fiftywh=it of Mr. Winston Churchill; who is still going strong at 6" vearpALBERT J. HERN