DISABLED SOLDIERS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXII, Issue 217, 13 August 1942, Page 4

DISABLED SOLDIERS

TRAINING FACTORIES PLAN (Special.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 12. Tho first factory for the training in handicrafts of disabled servicemen is to be erected in Wellington, budding operations being expected to start within a month. It will be followed by similar training factories in other parts of the Dominion. There are a large number of disabled men from the last war in Wellington, stated Mr M. Moohan (chairman of the Rehabilitation Board) to-day, and these men, skilled in. crafts for which training provision is being made, will in many cases be the teachers of the soldiers' of the present war. The new factory will stand on the site of a former tennis court which provides an acre of space, so that bowling greens can be included among the amenities. The two-storey building will have an elevator, but inclined planes will take the place of stairways. The largest part of the ground floor will be utuised for the artificial limb section, which' will include a walking race in which men can train in privacy thencontrol over artificial limbs. Large mirrors will help them to check their movements, which can be steadied by handrails. A cafeteria on generous lines, sun-decks, a hobbies room, and a spacious rest and reading room, are other features designed. Mr Moohan announced that m addition to the donation of £IOOO

previously made for a competition for the best type of house, and high quality furniture capable of being mass-produced, the associated cement companies of New Zealand have shown their appreciation of the proposals by donating £250 which will be added to the amount available for prizes.