PHYSICAL WELFARE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 62, 14 March 1944, Page 7

PHYSICAL WELFARE

AREA OFFICER'S FUNCTIONS Explaining the main functions of area officers in the Physical Welfare and Recreation Department, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Parry, said to-day that the chief role cf the men and women of the staff was in assisting sports and entertainment clubs and societies for the good of all belonging to the organisations, or who might be encouraged to join them. Area officers did not work with any idea or under any system which meant compulsion or regimentation of the people whom they aided. The officers had not been instructed, nor had they been prone to interfere with the domestic management of organisations to which they had given their services. "Any club, society or organisation is entitled to ask for the services of one of the area officers, and these services are freely given," said the Minister. The establishment of youth centres, which were now operating satisfactorily in some of the principal parts of the Dominion, was valuable work in which 'area officers of the Department had been able to assist materially. Mr. Parry said that unfortunately there was some misconception about the purpose of these centres. The first principle of a centre was to provide a place with full facilities where all forms of sport, dancing m its highest forms, and cultural arts and crafts could be encouraged and participated in to the fullest extent. Any suggestion of compulsion or regimentation was palpably absurd.