REHABILITATION

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 271, 15 November 1943, Page 2

REHABILITATION

pROVISION for rehabilitation in New Zealand began in October, 1941, with the passing of an Act, under which there were set up a Council, "to make recommendations to the Minister," and a Board, "to promote and to organise." What has been achieved by the Council it would be difficult to say. With a membership of about twenty it has been handicapped from the outset. The board, with six members, has been a more obviously useful instrument, and it is now to be strengthened by the creation of a central executive committee of two full-time members, plus the Minister. The change, although belated, is welcome because the actual as well as the anticipated increase in the work makes it essential that it should have the constant and undistracted attention of qualified men. Simultaneously, a beginning has been made to establish properly a Rehabilitation Department, by combining the present staff with that of the rehabilitation division of the National Service Department. These steps presumably may be regarded as the first fruits of the survey by the new Minister, Major Skinner, of the organisation as it has existed to date, in relation to past and future needs. They should have the much-desired effect of reducing the delays in dealing with the applications of ex-servicemen, delays which arise in large part from the nature of the organisation, which may yet have to be radically changed. The Rehabilitation Department, it should be emphasised, does not rehabilitate men; it initiates and as far as possible facilitates their rehabilitation, which is carried out by at least three other Departments—Labour, Education and State Advances. The State Advances Corporation, which holds the loan purse, is necessarily influential in determining whether a discharged serviceman shall be helped to do what he wants to do, and what the Rehabilitation Department wants him to do: Under the Act the board is empowered to "co-ordinate and use the services available in Departments of State," but it has yet to establish itself as the finally authoritative body. Whether it does so—whether it deserves to do so—will depend on the vision and "drive" of the Minister and the Board, and also on the policy of which they are the instruments.

It may seem paradoxical to suggest that there is still no rehabilitation policy in New Zealand, but in the widest sense of the word it is true. The purpose of the Government so far is limited to helping men to find jobs of their choice. That would be a sufficient purpose if New Zealand had a static economy in which there were a fixed number of jobs, and the task was merely to find and equip men to occupy them. The prospective situation is far different. The war has made great changes m the Dominion's econqmic life, and many of- them are not temporary. It has also made great changes in the economic life of countries abroad. No man can foresee the precise consequences, but an endeavour should be made to foresee their nature. As an outstanding example, there is the future of farming. Is it good policy to assume that the types of farming industry which in the past have been most profitable will in future continue to be so, and therefore that returning servicemen should be encouraged and financed into them? And what of the secondary industries? If ex-servicemen are encouraged into industries which, in the post-war future, have to compete with imported articles (and if New Zealand .is to export its farm produce, it must import) then many men's hopes will be disappointed, and much rehabilitation money will go "down the drain." It has been suggested recently, by the Manufacturers' Federation and the Chambers of Commerce, that wide inquiries be made into these matters, so that the Government may be as fully informed as possible. The Rehabilitation Council, or the Board, might well support one or other of the suggestions that have been made. Its own work cannot be separated from the general policy of the country. As has been pointed out in England, after the war "all the Departments will be, or ought to be, Ministries of Reconstruction," all carrying out, in its various aspects, one policy, which can be determined only by the Government, and should be determined as early as possible.