ARMY EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 216, 9 June 1944, Page 6

ARMY EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION

Liaison Men Appointed PROBLEMS OUTLINED BY MINISTER Specially selected men. seven in the Middle East and one in the I’acitie, have been appointed as the nucleus of an army education and rehabilitation liaison service, states the Minister of Rehabilitation. Major Skinner, in a letter to the Associated Chambers of Commerce. The purpose, ho adds, is a wider one than to inquire into the post-war intentions of menibers of the divisions concerned. The plait of work, now in operation, includes :— (1) The conduct of a complete education and rehabilitation census. (2) The gradual interviewing of the men by the liaison officers, with a view to developing educational and trade training. Courses for the men in Ihe forces whose census forms indicate that they would benefit thereby, and the completion of certain rehabilitation particulars concerning all men and women being invalided out of the area. “To a limited extent,” states Major Skinner, “training in building and engineering trades is being imparted to suitable personnel overseas, but it is expected that, with the exception of certain trainees in light engineering and allied trades, all trade trainees in the forces can be readily absorbed in New Zealand at these trades. “There is so far no suggestion of rigid planning for the absorption of ex-service-men on the basis of the expressed preferences of (he men, or on the basis of absorptive capacities arbitrarily calculated by departmental officers. “At present there is a great demand throughout industry for labour of almost every kind, and the manpower situation is such that it is uot a question of cheeking flows into surfeited industries, but rather one of rationing labour among under-staffed industries.

“I am of the opinion that little benefit would result from a publication of expressed preferences of the men still serving with the forces, particularly as such men generally change their minds frequently and are ill-informed on New Zealand employment conditions. “What I think to be the better approach and the one favoured by the Rehabilitation Board is the calculation of the absorptive capacity in the various industries and occupations on the basis of technical information covering the likely planned and involuntary trends iu the economy as a whole, followed by the guidance of ex-servicemen in such a .way as to preserve the optimum proportions. The preparation of information on this basis will lie part of the work of the newly-formed organization for national developmeu t. “A less tractable employment problem and one which has already been given close study by the Rehabilitation Board, is that of absorbing, all partially disabled ex-servicemen into suitable industrial avocations. At the direction of the board, the research section of my department is preparing a plan to enable the survey of every industry and occupation in New Zealand with a view to ascertaining the suitability of different jobs for men with various disabilities.- It is expected that the rearrangement of the. labour content of industry in terms of the survey would, if it were practicable, go far toward solving the problem of the disabled man. “The assistance of all interested organizations, including chambers of commerce, in such a survey and in the placement campaign that would follow, would be invaluable, and it is intended to consult with all such organizations before the field plan of the survey is put into operation.”