JOBS FOR FORMER SERVICEMEN

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27710, 14 July 1955, Page 6

JOBS FOR FORMER SERVICEMEN

Posts In Civilian Life WORK OF ASSOCIATION IN BRITAIN LONDON. Men and women who have served in the regular forces should not have to start “at the bottom of the ladder’’ in civilian life. That is the view of Sir Godfrey Ince, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Labour and National Service. He was speaking in London to the National Association for Employment of Regular Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen. “We believe,” he said, “that men and women who voluntarily serve their country in the regular Forces have a right to feel sure that when their service is over they will not only not suffer through having volunteered but will positively gain by it. “In other words they shouldn’t have to start at the bottom of the ladder, but should be able to carry on in civilian life in a capacity which makes full use of the experience and knowledge they have gained.” Almost all Regulars with five years’ experience of a trade could now look forward to using their skill when they left the Forces. Sir Frederick Handley Page, the aircraft manufacturer, said: “When I heard of the scope of all Sir Godfrey Ince’s Ministry does I felt I had found for once a Government department which was almost human.” He describes Sir Walter Monckton as “the best Minister we have ever had in the Ministry, dealing with matters in in his sagacious way.” The annual report states: “Far from there being any truth in the cry ‘Too old at 40,’ the association takes pride in the percentage of older men placed in good posts year after year.”