REPATRIATION PLANS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 194, 18 July 1941, Page 6

REPATRIATION PLANS.

CARE OF RETURNED MEN

The Government has been considering lor some time measures necessary to re-establish m civil life the thousands of men now in the armed forces, says the Financial Statement. Most ol the work of repatriation can be carried out by existing departments and from the administrative point of view co-ordination and direction are the chief problems. It is proposed to bring' down a Repatriation Bill this session which will deal with the matter on: broad lines and set up a central authority. Land settlement under tht \ Lands and Survey Department has already been dealt with by the Small Farms' Amendment Act, 1940, and its regulations. The State Advances Corporation, which has all the necessary machinery, will be used as the channel for loans for the erection of houses and purchase of farms, furniture, tools of trade, etc. These loans will be made on favourable terms and conditions to be determined by the Government. Several free-of-intercst loans up to .Coo for tools have already been approved, and details of furniture loans are now under consideration. The drafting of schemes for other loans, and for farm and industrial training, has reached an advanced state, and these matters will come up for decision J shortly.

The' administration of other aspectsj of repatriation has proceeded steadily' for some time. Under the War Pen-, sions Extension Act, 1940, sick or dis- ; abled men discharged from the forces j receive full treatment and adequate! pensions, while the State Placement ;\ Service acts as an employment and general atter-eare agency, in addition | to interviewing and assisting each man in the first instance. s As a background to successful re- 1 habituation the economic future of the Dominion, particularly in the postwar period, must receive very careful thought, the Statement adds. We must endeavour so to direct the industrial make-up of New Zealand that suitebl" employment can be found not only for returned men, but also for the whole employable population.