RETURNED SERVICEMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1945, Page 3

RETURNED SERVICEMEN

MENTALLY-ILL PROBLEM

WELLINGTON, May 11.

Doubt as to whether ex-servicemen who had returned from the war psychologically maladjusted were leceiving the advice they should, was expressed by several members of the New Zealand Vocational Guidance Association at the annual conference, when the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr. Skinner) after addressing the conference invited questions. A motion proposing to the Government a remedy is to be placed before the conference to-day. Mr. L. S. Hearnshaw (Wellington) who raised the subject, said he felt disquiet at thousands of men not being able to get any advice on the subject of maladjustment. One way to satisfy' people who had theso doubts would be to get an overseas expert to give a frank report on what New Zealand was doing. Mr. Skinner replied that on the surface it would appear very little was being done, Advice from overseas was that the worst thing to do with such men was to put them together in an institution. Australia had done that and now doubted whether it was the best thing to do. there being fears that the men would be there for the rest of their lives. They would be better bving as normal a life as they could instead of being constantly reminded of their trouble. New Zealand naci an intermediate scheme under which m“n were employed outdoors on interesting work. Near Dunedin, there was a garden where up to fifteen men at a time had been employed and the results had been encouraging, The president, Doctor R. Winter- > bourn, said a good deal more could be ‘done for the class of person Mr. Hearnshaw had mentioned. He agreed with the suggestion that overseas advice be obtained. Mr. Skinner asked members if they had many cases of this kind. Mr. G. M. Keys (Christchurch). They are very often hard to recognise. There are more than I at first thought. It is rather easy to overlook them. Doctor Winterbourn said that in view of Mr, Skinner’s apparent, surprise at the unanimity 'of opinion among the members, the subject should be followed up. The problem had been pointed out clearly to the Minister of Health (Mr, Nordmeyer) by a Christchurch group, but not to Mr. Skinner previously. Mr. Hearnshaw agreed to draft a motion to be submitted to to-day’s session.

LABOURING WORK WELLINGTON, May 10. Members of the New Zealand Vocational Guidance Assocation were ur°'ed by the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr Skinner)'in an address at the annual conference, to-day, to discourage the idea that no former servicemen should do labouring work. Above all, the Department had to be practical, he said. Much labouring work would have to be done in New Zealand after the war, and a proportion of former servicemen would be employed on it. The mere fact that a man had been overseas three or four years did not debar him from doing such work. “I have heard a lot of loose talk about the country that we. are not «oin cf to have our men coming back out of the forces to pick and shovel work.” he said, “but we cannot all bo professional men and there are a lot of roads to be built.. There is a tremendous lot of labouring work to

do, and manv men are not fit for other work. It is a very, very serious thing to encourage or advise men or women to undertake a job they cannot finish, or to undertake training in a career they are not suited for. We have to be practical in these things, even if it does hurt 'a little.”