REPLACEMENT OF “KEY” MEN

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 124, 21 February 1944, Page 4

REPLACEMENT OF “KEY” MEN

There can be no doubt that the public will approve the' principle Dehind the request by the Dunedin Returned Services Association that returned soldiers of the present war be trained to replace in essential civilian employment A grade men eligible for the Army. Throughout the country there are cases in which fit men. in the younger age groups have had no military training and have seen no active service, because they have remained classed as key or skilled personnel whose services to industry have been looked upon as being of primaTy national importance. Now that ex-servicemen are coming back to civilian life in larger numbers it is proper that exemptions should be reconsidered in cases where other men with the required training, or men capable of qualifying, are released from the Forces. It must be borne in mind, however, that the position as it may be affected by men in the group which may require training is not so simple as the Dunedin R.S.A.’s discussion might make it appear. As a general rule A grade men granted exemption from military service have been those possessed of special knowledge, experience or skill, which might take others a considerable time to acquire. Moreover facilities for special, intensive training in particular fields of skilled or administrative work are unlikely to be readily available. This, of course, is no reason why a process of replacement should not be established on more systematic lines than those which appear at present to be followed; indeed, it is an additional reason for early consideration of the problem. What has to be recognized is that the Armed Forces Appeal Boards in the first place conducted, on the whole, a close .and critical scrutiny of applications for exemption; not only that, but the majority, if not all, cases wherein exemption was granted for a limited period have been subject to later review. It is, therefore, not to be expected that the proportion of cases no longer justifying exemption, because of the release from the Army of men suitable as replacements, will be large. The figure quoted in Dunedin —namely, some 33,000 demobilizations from the armed Forces up to the end of November last—bears no real relationship to the question under discussion, for the reason that it. represents releases of both men and women, largely from home service, lhere may be a percentage ; of these service folk suitable as replacements in key positions, after a period, of preliminary training; but it would probably be a very small percentage in view of the fact that the civil qualifications of such men—many of whom are young, and have been in the Army for comparatively brief terms —were no doubt fully considered by themselves and their employers at the time of their call-up. Nevertheless the request of the Dunedin R.S.A., on point of principle, is just and timely.