WORK FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10106, 13 October 1917, Page 5

WORK FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS.

£1,000,000 TO BE SET ASIDE FOR THE MEN. (Fnost Quit Paumamentary Ilmjuiicii.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 11. The Hon. A. L. I lord man said to-night that there seemed to lie a belief in some, quarters that Now Zealand had a number of returned soldiers looking for work. That was not the case. The Discharged Soldiers’ Information Department had disposed of the great majority of the returned men who had needed assistance, ft was a satisfying fact that most of the returned men cl id not, need any assistance, in resuming civilian occupations. For the men who did need assistance, provision on a comprehensive scale had been made. There were forty branches of his Department at work.

Dr. Thacker: “The only Department that has any soul in it.” Mr Herdman said his experience of the returned soldiers was that they wished to get hack to work as quickly as possible. They did not want charity and they did not want to become dependents of the Government. But the Department stood at the disposal of each man until lie was re-established. It. was ready to provide technical training for men who wished to learn trades, and it, would supplement pensions while the men were receiving instruction. The Department had in hand a scheme for putting men into trades and making up the difference between the award wage and what they could earn during the period of training. This would provide training of the most practical kino for returned men who might require tio learn a trade, or a new trade. The details would bo discussed with tho employers’ and labour organisations. Tho existing technical schools wore all at tho disposal of returned soldiers, and so were the St tile farms. The establishment of a central training institution was not deemed advisable, since tho men wished to live at or near their own homes. Only live blind soldiers had returned to New Zealand, and two had since gone back to England. Two of the others wore receivin( p training, and one was on holiday. The work of the Department would become more difiicull when the great mass of the men returned to New Zealand at the end of the war. but arrangements were being made well in advance Every man as he returned would have the work of the Do* partment brought under Ins notice. A sum of £1.000,000 would be ready for expenditure, ami the chief Government Departments, including railways and public works,‘ would have arrangements made for works that would employ some thousands of men. Tho groat majority of the men returning after the war would he lit am well, and ho had no doubt that work would be ready for thorn.