LIGHT WORK WANTED

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 118, 14 November 1929, Page 11

LIGHT WORK WANTED

PARTIAL DISABLEMENT POST-WAR PKOBLEII (By Telegraph .—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, 13th November. Tho Returned Soldiers' Rehabilitation Commission continued its sittings to-day. . . & Major D. E. G. Cardale supported the claim that South- African veterans should be placed on the same footing as those of the Great War in regard to pensions and training. Dr. W. N. Abbott expressed the belief that neurasthenic cases should be dealt with by permitting work at underrate wages with a Government subsidy of the balance. A nerve hospital such as that at Hanmer should bo established in the Auckland province, as Hanmer was too far away. Subsidised under-rate work out-of-doors should be provided for pulmonary tuberculosis cases. In more severe cases, the solution was 100 per cent, pension. There should be a sanatorium in the Waitakere Ranges run- in conjunction with the Auckland Hospital Board. For the aged, debilitated, and those unable to work there should be s_ome sort' of institution, such as the Epsom Infirmary, with a special subsidy until sufficient cases were collected for veterans' homes; ' Dr. W. C. M'Caw suggested" that certain classes of cases would be benefited mentally and physically by an alteration of the present method of administering . pensions without disorganising to any great extent the systems now in use. He made suggestions similar to those of Dr. Abbott. POLICY CRITICISED. W. E. Cayley-Alexander, deputypresident of the Te Kuiti Returned Soldiers' Association, spoke criticising the operations of the Land Revaluation Committee. The wiping out of a large proportion of liabilities was no actual benefit to soldier farmers, as they were not thus enabled to purchase seed and manure. In many cases £50 or £100 would have got these men. out of their trouble, and the Government would have been saved thousands of pounds. No distinction was made between triers and non-triers. George Finn, president of the Auckland Manufacturers' Association, speaking regarding factory work generally, said it would be detrimental to efficiency if special consideration had to be shown to individual members on account of: their physical unfituess or inability to keep pace with their fellow-workers. There were, however, positions in most works where nieii could be employed as messengers or at other light work if licensed as underrate workers. Replying to the chairman (Mr. J. S. Barton, S.M.), Mr. Finn said that if the work of the Commission, should result in a scheme accepted by the Government as sound and placed in the hands of competent men to administer, he thought he could pledge his association and its members to give continuous .sympathetic support. In reply to Captain E. H. Sharpe, he said he was in favour of the underrate system, but was'doubtful of its ultimate success.

A. L. Nugent, representing a firm interested in the provision of appliances for disabled soldiers, and himself one of those- men, outlined occupations which could advantageously be'made for the absorption of disabled' and otherwise unfit returned men. The principal ones were goat farming and artificial limb manufacturing by a cooperative association. One advantage claimed for this was the greater satisfaction of individual requirements in artificial limbs and appliances. Beplying to the chairman, Mr JNugent said that it was the practice of the Government in the majority of cases to insist on. a certain, type of limb irrespective of the wishes of the man who was to use it.

The chairman said the suggestion for artificial limb manufacturing deserved careful consideration. He questioned the wisdom of the suggestion for cooperation in the financing of the scheme.

Thomas Selwyn Miller gave evidence regarding his personal experience of different types of artificial limb The Commission decided to have a demonstration of the use of limbs at a later period.