DISABLED SOLDIERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1929, Page 2

DISABLED SOLDIERS

GOVT. PRINTER’S EVIDENCE (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, November 8. At the Economic Pensions Committee, Mr Skinner, Government Printer, said that the institution of the English system of the King’s Roll, by which local bodies are compelled to reject any tender where there is not a certain percentage of disabled men employed, would give employment in New Zealand to many disabled men. There was little work in the Government Printing Office which such men could do, and under the Arbitration Award, the cost of production would be increased. This would necessitate a subsidy to the Department, or allowance to each man to bring his wages up to standard. In reply to questions, he said that the only way the Printing Office could absorb disabled soldiers was by taking them on as vacancies occurred.

FARMING TOO ARDUOUS. WELLINGTON, November 8. Evidence was given before the Economic Pensions Commission by Mr. Samson, officer in charge of the Discharged Soldiers’ Information Department. He said that, looking back over the various classes for industrial training, farming, beekeeping, poultry raising, horticulture, seed-growing, etc., there could be no question, he thought, that the subsidised wages scheme was pre-eminently the backbone of the success achieved. He was convinced, after many disappointments, that all jobs on the land i eally called for healthy men. Even the lightest job meant incessant labour, early and late, and no knocking off for an hour or two if not feeling well He found, too, that wherever men were grouped together, no matter how kind and sympathetic one might be, it took only one agitator round the fireside to make the whole of the little community dissatisfied, and full of troubles. He was decidedly of the opinion that practically the only training and employment that could at this stage be economically arranged for permanently disabled soldiers would be in certain suitable industries under subsidised wages scheme. He suggested boot and shoe making, bag and trunk making, socks and stocking manufacturing, brush making, etc. In his opinion, if the Government laid down a definite policy, the State Advances office should be able forthwith to start absorbing disabled men in various industries without any setting up of Boards or Committees, tackling the job with Inspectors of Factories, secretaries of Patriotic Societies, the Returned Soldiers’ Association, and the trade unions concerned. If a man could work for only a few hours per week, a hobby at home would be the best thing for him, with an economic pension.