LARGE SUM

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1945, Page 7

LARGE SUM

REHABILITATION COST

IMPORTANCE OF WAR LOAN - Approximately £3,000,000 will be required this year to finance the rehabilitation of returned servicemen and servicewomen, according to a statement by the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr. Skinner) in support of the Victory Loan. "The £3,000,000 may not <spem a large proportion ol u»e SoOOOO asVforin the Victory Loan," said the Minister, 'but I want to stress that if .the loan is .not fully subscribed this item, like all otheis, will suffer proportionately, and may have to be financed out of direct taxation which ex-servicemen must pay m common with all civilians, thus re ducing their own benefits from the whole scheme." From the War Expenses Account which is made up from taxation and war loans, the Minister said that the activities financed included the tiacie training schemes for the returned servfcemen They had cost since the outset £ March 31 £266,688 and it was estimated that during the current finandal year the amount needed Sdbe £387,168 Another big item was the financing of the Disabled- Servicemen's Re-establishment Leagues vocational training centres, for which £181,000 would be needed this year to cover the cost of land and buildings, plant, machinery, and equipment, ana also various grants and payments tor the league which was doing such an excellent job as the Rehabilitation Board's agent. It was training many disabled men in worthwhile trades and occupations, enabling them once again to establish themselves on an equal footing with other workers. OTHER ASSISTANCE. Other rehabilitation facilities financed from the War Expenses Account were educational assistance, farm training, the training of blinded exservicemen, intermediate scheme tor therapeutic employment, subsidies to various employers for the training ot ex-servicemen and servicewomen, ana travelling expenses, payment for lurniture removals and for loss of earnings. The returned men were also given rehabilitation allowances to tide over the period between discharge and the taking up of employment, bo far," continued Mr. Skinner, "we have paid out nearly £400,000 on this account alone and we estimate that considerably more than £100,000 will be needed under this heading for the current financial year. In fact, as near as it is possible to estimate in the field of rehabilitation, we are budgeting under these headings for well over£looo,ooo for the year ending March 31, 1946, all of which will come from the War Expenses Account. "This figure does not include loans advanced by the Rehabilitation Board for businesses, tools of trade, furniture, and other purchases required by exservicemen returning to civil life. It is, of course, difficult to say just how much will be required under these headings this year, but for the 12 months ended March 31 the sum of £778,751 was approved in loans for these purposes, and we may look forward to a greatly accelerated rate of demobilisation during the coming 12 months." In urging his hearers to invest the unspendable surplus of their incomes in the Victory Loan, the Minister said that, this money could be more effectively spent when there were plenty of goods available. "And in the meantime," he concluded, "our ex-service men and women will be spared the unfair competition of the civilian public in the scramble for clothing, furniture, building materials, and so on. What is a luxury to the civilian at the moment is, more often than not, a necessity for the discharged serviceman." /