REPARATION DEPARTMENT

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 12 February 1921, Page 3

REPARATION DEPARTMENT

PROGRESS RETURN

20 iqsl S ooetUrn as at January i Stei Tht °^ 23. months operations; m™f "T« he Refl^ ter <>f the Depart- ?« 8«Q W v^ ntams the names of /8,889 demobilised soldiers, and a<=sisti Thehß^ren^ d in,4B^7 cl£. iHe Department has placed 22,080 Sp a a?tT table and there f^Stnt V reSen* only 108 men awaiting placement, of whom not one has been on the books of the Department for more than one week. DuS the past- twelve months there ha! never at any time been more thin 150 £1? °n Employment wanted- i£ ffi£ $** Wnber to whom it has been found necessary to nay unj employment sustenance, sine™ gj "£ ceptipn of the Department is only 1072 or yery little more than one ver cent' of the number demobilised. ±ne vocational training schemes inaugurated by the Department have been successful, and 5397 men Ke been trained m spec al soldier claws and technical sch<£ls, or ?a the woT • i?%,i& faCt°ri!? 5* P^ate enters, whilst an additional 1229, students : attending evening classes at Univers- : ties or commercial college® have been 1 WSttLr tk # rants to^ttd* and text books/ Trainee* have been carej fully "shepherded". by experienced of- ! hcers, and the percentage of failures naye j finished their courses and have sc- ! cured employment as "skilled" trades- | men. # - The total expenditure to date on •training, facilities, sustenance of trainj ees, etc., is £243,384; • A good many seriously disabled men ; resumed occupations noW rendered unsuitable owing to war disabilities and the reports of the after-care officers inaicate that a; great measure of success ; rs attending their efforts to olace such I men m^ more congenial employment lip to the present these officers have ; dealt wsth 1005 chest cases,339 ampu- | tations, and 601 men suffering from j other serious disabilities. In addition . to this they have inspected and report- ■ ed upon 247 subsidised traces during | the past month. " i Up" to January 20, 4760 loans for the purpose of acquiring or establishing j Illnesses had been aporoved by the i Ministerial Board, involving an exI VZ n£$ UTe An additional j W,b6b men had been granted loans for j the purchase of household furniture j tools etc., and a further 4025 had re*-' ; ceived financial assistance in other dii rections the amount paid to or on bei ba! f ,?. f ther soldiers under all headings totalling £1,708,547. c^ ns-,^ B'7 e been advanced to some lt>,lKX> discharge 1 soldiers, and the great bulk of Yd i men are meeting their obligation; loyally. The amount collected up to December 31, 1920, on ?SZ ount of loans granted -totalled £405.----185, and the average monthly collect-on i Js now £35.000, a rate of over £420,----000 per .annum. . _ Summary assistance rendered •— Placed in employment. 22,080: trained or m training, 6626; financially assisted, 19,421. Total, 48,127.