HELPING THE DISABLED

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22376, 13 April 1938, Page 21 (Supplement)

HELPING THE DISABLED

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VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

PROPOSED

SCHEME EXPLAINED TO HEALTH COMMITTEE

Crattaa association tbucoeam.)

WELLINGTON, April 12

The objects of the scheme to train disabled persons to utilise their remaining earning capacity were outlined before the Select Committee on National Health and State Superannuation this afternoon by Mr W. E. Leadley (secretary)- and Mr J. I. Goldsmith (chairman), representing the Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment League. The witnesses described plans for the inauguration of a vocational training centre, at which disabled soldiers and civilians unable to do permanent work and others whose disabilities prevented them from continuing their usual callings would receive free tuition that would enable them again to take their place in industry. Employers’ organisations, trades unions, the Returned Soldiers* Association, and the Red Cross Society would be asked to co-operate. Financial assistance during the first year would be sought from the Government, thereafter the amount required would vary as the scheme developed. The league would supply all the materials required, and all saleable goods manufactured would be sent to the league's shops for sale. The training centre, which would be established in Wellington first, could be extended to other districts later. “The result should mean a big saving to the Pensions Department," concluded Mr Leadley, ‘‘and we submit that once the mdny thousands of disabled persons in New Zealand who are now living on their pensions are settled in some useful work, the scheme should more than pay for itself in the long run, even if looked at purelyfrom the point of finance.”