IN CIVILIAN LIFE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 22, 23 December 1944, Page 3

IN CIVILIAN LIFE

60,220 DEMOBILISATIONS

MANY MEN SELF-PLACED

(Press Assn.) WELLINGTON, Dec. 22 To the end of November 60,220 servicemen and women had been demobilised from the Armed Forces, said the Minister of Rehabilitation (Mr Skinner) today. During November 3067 returned personnel and 812 home servicemen and women had been demobilised, making 3879 for the month. At the date of the return the totals discharged from the forces were 34,754 returned from overseas and 25,4(36 demobilised from homo service. "An analysis of the placement figures of ex-servicemen and women shows that over all 69 per ce,nt. have

, placed themselves in employment, busi- ' nesses, and on farms, while 31 per 1 cent, have required assistance front ' the Rehabilitatoin Department;-" said 1 the Minister. "Proportionately more returned personnel than home service- ; men and women, however, have so ' far required assistance in placement. The percentages for returned men and women are 64 per cent, self-placed and 36 per cent, assisted; of home service personnel, 74 per cent, were self-placed land 26,per cent, required assistance. "Though we are naturally at all times ready to assist any number of exservicemen and women to rehabilitate themselves," said the Minister, "from the point of view of the men themselves the higher the percentage in the self-placed category the better. "Many men have had to be placed in employment more than once by the department, but in each case the returns show only one placement. There are many cases in which men have been assisted to find employment but later have placed themselves, in which case they are shown in the returns simply as being self-placed. MANPOWER DIRECTION. "Another point which should be borne in mind, particularly with regardto home service personnel, is that a large proportion of them have been directed into employment under the ■ manpower regulations and many will probably require assistance into permanent jobs after the war. Furthermore, though the great majority manage to find themselves employment or return to their former won; tnousands of them have required assistance from the Rehabilitation Department in other ways, including housing, furniture, and miscellaneous forms of financial i help.

rl "I should like to emphasise that ot the whole the relations between the department and private employers arc Jon a mo.-,t cordial and eo-operativt : basis, but there have been a iW cases, | regrettable as they are rare, in I which employers have had to be reminded of tlieir moral obligation to- . wards their former employees. I have la list of 24 such cases reported irom I the four main 'centres, five of them having required action by the Lalvour j Department. The number of these 1 cases is certainly small, but it shows that the legislation compelling employers to reinstate former workers is highly necessary and has no.doubt prei vented many more cases of evasion by | employers of their obligation. I ''The main headings showing the dis- ' posal of demobilised personnel are as follow:—Not yet discharged, returned to service on leave, ill hospital, recuperating, etc., 12/>bS; undergoing fulltime training, 1GG8; placed with prei service employers, liiJ.o; self-placed with pro-service employers, 14,492; j placed without subsidy with other private employers, 8348; self-placed with 'other private employers, 12,o50; placed without subsidy m State employ, Vl-i. self-placed without subsidy in State employ, Gl6; placed with subsidy in an intermediate scheme, 21; returned to their own businesses or farms, '266b ; acquired thei'r own businesses or farms, 2379. Of the 2379 shown as having acquired their own businesses or farms, 1571 were assisted with rehabilitation loans.