RESTORING DISABLED MEN TO GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 41, 18 February 1943, Page 4

RESTORING DISABLED MEN TO GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT

(By G.A.P.)

The problem of the disabled exserviceman, or the man whose health has been undermined or ruined as a consequence of war service, and his economic value to the community thus impaired, is the particular responsibility of the Disabled Servicemen's Re-Establishment League, an integral section of the Rehabilitation Department, with branches in the main centres of New Zealand. In Auckland a committee in charge of this all-important work comprises 14 members, representing widely varied interests and operating under a departmental constitution. The personnel consists of representatives of the Government (two members), the Employers' Association (one), the R.S.A. (three, one to be a man from the present war when available), the Manufacturers' Association (one), Trades and Labour Council (two), and one each from the Provincial Patriotic Council, the Technical School board of managers, the joint committee of the Order of St. John and the Red Cross, the South African Veterans' Association, and the Patriotic and War Relief Association. The present chairman is Mr. Arthur Rosser, a Government representative, and the secretary, Mr. G. E. Soutar. Salvage of Human Wreckage The task is to salvage the human wreckage of the war, to restore men broken on the wheel of conflict so that they may overcome their disabilities and play their part in the economic structure of the community in the contentment of usefulness, instead of being left despondent in idleness and monotony. Since the last war, in other countries probably more so than in New Zealand, almost miraculous results have been achieved in the rehabilitation of cripples suffering from all types of injuries, and it is planned to extend and develop on a much more extensive basis the comparatively insignificant schemes that have been carried on for 25 years in this country. The general policy is laid down in Wellington, and the district committees work along the lines mapped out with any enterprises they may consider Avorthy. The main objectives are in relation to the repatriation, rehabilitation, employment and training of disabled servicemen; the taking over of all the existing activities, undertakings and assets of the Soldier's Civil Re-Establish-ment League; the acquisition and sale, either as principal or agent, of any goods or property capable of being bought and sold; the establishment of rest homes for eligible servicemen; the establishment and maintenance of factories for the purpose of employing disabled men and training centres in any occupation or trade or business and the opening and maintaining of shops for the disposal of goods and products of such enterprises. Factory in Auckland Developed from ■ the last war, under the aegis of the Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment League, is the mop and feather duster factory in Hopetoun Sti-eet, Newton, where there are at present ten men employed, one a soldier from the present war. The factory, if small, has been quite substantial in productivity, and the latest figures show a turnover of £10,000. Altogether, 20,000 heads and mop handles were assembled in this factory in a year, with almost an equal number of feather dusters.

The management of the factory is meeting serious problems owing to the shortage of necessary materials, some of which have gone out of production in Britain and cannot be imported from other countries. The possibility of expansion of such an undertaking in normal times has not been overlooked by those responsible. In addition to the factory, the committee will take over the work previously done by the Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment League with leather and wooden goods, retailed at the Returned Services' shop in Civic Buildings. The stock of this establishment is the product of returned men in their homes. There is no training centre for this class of activity, and most of the registered returned men who send in their work have learned their arts during long spells of hospital treatment or have been self-taught. The shop in recent months has shown progressive increases, and in November and December last the turnover reached £1800. Vocational Centre The main undertaking of the present committee will be the establishment of a vocational training centre. As is inevitable in such national activities where there is departmental centralisation in Wellington, progress can be measured only by expedition at the head, and in the case of the vocational centre in Auckland the scheme has been completely held up awaiting official approval of a site. Following a public controversy regarding a proposal to erect the training centre on the site of the old Parnell School, which was subsequently rejected, various other possible localities were inspected, and finally the local committee as long ago as before last Christmas recommended a site at the corner of Dominion Road and Horopito Street. The site has been inspected by the chairman of the Rehabilitation Board and the chairman of the Reestablishment League, who, it is understood, were agreeable to the project. Nothing further, however, has been heard regarding the proposal, and until finality is reached and formal approval given this vital aspect of rehabilitation in Auckland cannot be prbceeded with. The need for haste in view of the fact that the war is now in its fourth year and already a number of disabled men are awaiting some form of rehabilitation, should be readily apparent, and the delays experienced are proving irksome and to some extent discouraging. It Is feared that the project of the vocational training centre will be far behind its most vital need when the men return in larger numbers and have to be placed in useful occupations. (To be concluded.)