POST-WAR CAREERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 102, 1 May 1943, Page 4

POST-WAR CAREERS

The announcement from London that British .i.en and women in the Services are to have a chance after the war to train for a career at the Government's expense will be read with interest in New Zealand. Similar provision is being made here, but the British plan appears to be wider in its range. Here, as in Britain, the careers of many young men and women in this country have been interrupted by war service at a critical stage of their studies, and unless some steps are taken to assist them they may have difficulty in taking up their training again. There is the added danger that in the absence of encouragement they may not readily resume the studies that are necessary to qualify them for usefuJ careers. The need for assistance does not, of course, apply solely to those preparing for professional careers; it applies generally. Many youths have been released from the Army, but there are hundreds of others, including many serving overseas, whose civil training has been broken. It would be unfair both to employers and the youths concerned if after the war young men of 21 either had to be paid a basic rate of wage which they could not earn or had to seek an under-rate worker's permit. Under the general rehabilitation plan it should be possible to make provision for assistance that would enable them to be usefully employed and at the same time complete their training, whether in the professions or in trades. It would be uneconomic to have a large number of half-trained men and women in commerce and industry, and measures for avoiding this could very well come under the general heading of rehabilitation.