DEPRESSION’S LEGACY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 186, 4 May 1937, Page 9

DEPRESSION’S LEGACY

Prematurely Aged Men in Canada COMING MAJOR PROBLEM Auckland, May 3. A legacy of the depression in the form of prematurely-aged men unsuitable for work is a growing problem for relief institutions in Canada, according to Commissioner W. R. Dalziel, of the Salvation Army, who, with his wife and two children, was a through passenger in the Niagara. Commissioner Dalziel is proceeding to Sydney, where he will assume control of the Army’s work in the eastern section of Australia. For 25 years Commissioner Dalziel was actively associated with the Salvation Army in Great Britain before taking up a position six years ago as chief secretary for Canada and Newfoundland. Following the transfer of Commissioner W. McKenzie from Sydney to China, he was sent to Australia and will begin his new duties this month. Commissioner Dalziel said that the depression had created a class of ‘‘unworkable” men in their forties but prematurely aged who would never again take up the positions they once occupied in industry. They would need considerable care and attention from relief institutions. During the years of financial stringency, schools and colleges had continued to turn out their quota of young men who were now taking up positions which these unemployable men had once occupied. In Canada these men were going to constitute a major problem for social services. Commissioner Dalziel said that one of the most successful avenues of the Salvation Army’s work was in connection with the aid for families of prisoners and with the rehabilitation of ex-convicts. With the recovery from the depression employers were willing to give these men a chance, and in prpbably S 5 per cent, of cases they made good.