REPATRIATED SERVICEMEN

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 2, 3 January 1945, Page 7

REPATRIATED SERVICEMEN

DIRECTION TO WORK

R.S.A. REPRESENTATIONS Following the announcement by the P.rime Minister of the replacement scheme whereby long-service personnel of the Second Division would be returned to New Zealand and directed to essential industry with a view to releasing for service in the forces grade A men who have been held on appeal, the N.Z.R.S.A. asked the Director of National Service for an assurance that the interests of the repatriated men would be safeguarded in every possible way. In particular, the association asked that men would not be directed to industries for which they were not physically or mentally fitted: that the men would be permitted as far as possible, to choose the essential industry to which they would be directed: and that an assurance be given that such direction would only be for the duration of the war. It was further suggested by the N.Z.R.S.A. that there should b<? co-operation between the manpower officer and the Rehabilitation Department so that men may, as far as possible, be directed into occupations that will facilitate their ultimate rehabilitation. Other points raised by the association were that the men directed should be assured a wage that would be at least equal to that which they would have received had they returned to their former occupation, and that the men's right of furlough, based on the length of their overseas service, should not be prejudiced. Assurance Given The association has now received an assurance from the director that as far as it lies within the power of his Department the interests of the repatriated men will be safeguarded. Manpower officers had been instructed that only reasonably fit men are to be directed into industry, and that in those cases where they are so directed they will be placed in employment which is within their physical and mental capacity. Manpower officers will also be instructed to take into account not only the importance of the work to which the men have been directed but also to take account of the scope that such work offers for the longterm rehabilitation of the men concerned, so that although the direction policy was primarily guided by the need for the combing out of category A men already on appeal, a definite attempt will be made to combine this objective with that of long-term rehabilitation.

Repatriated men who are no longer in category A and men who are 41 years of age or over and men with more than three children, as a general rule, will not be subjected to direction. The Manpower Department will, however, where necessary, undertake responsibility for finding suitable employment for them, and in their cases will be able to pay particular attention to their rehabilitation requirements. The director stated that the aim of his Department will definitely be to give repatriated men the maximum degree of choice of employment consistent with the basic objective of combing out category A men in essential industry. His Department had already considered the wages question. Under the financial assistance procedure operated by the Department the position of directed ex-ser-vicemen, in so far as their ordinary outgoings were concerned, would be safeguarded, and in the event of the man being directed to a job carrying a lower wage than that earned by him in his preserviee employment financial assistance to bring him to that status would, within the limits of the financial assistance available ujider the Department's authority, be accorded to him.

The director agreed with the R.S.A. submission that the cases of returning farmers merited particular attention. To the extent that they were formerly employed as farm workers, every endeavour would be made to place them in congenial positions on farms. If, while so employed, they were considered under the rehabilitation procedure and qualified as eligible for immediate settlement, his Department would not put any obstacle in the way of their immediate settlement. If they were classified as B or C class men and it was the desire of the Rehabilitation Board to train them with the view to their ultimate establishment, the National Service Department would again co-operate.