All Ex-Servicemen Eligible Under Govt. Rehabilitation Plans

Northern Advocate, 26 February 1944, Page 5

All Ex-Servicemen Eligible Under Govt. Rehabilitation Plans

(P.A.) WELLINGTON. This Day. “All ex-servicemen and women whether their service has been in New Zealand or overseas, are eligible for consideration under -the Government’s rehabilitation schemes,” said the Minister for Rehabilitation (Major Skinner) in a statement last night. “This is in ' accordance with the broad objects of rehabilitation which are to reinstate ex-service personnel in civil life and ensure that as, far as possible they are reinstated in positions not less favourable than they would have occupied but for their service with the armed forces.

“In considering applications for assistance, all cases are dealt with on their merits. Guiding factors in determining the measure and nature of assistance 1o be given, are hardship and/or loss, suffered through or as a result of service.

“In assessing the hardship suffered, the length and nature of service, localities in which it had been rendered and risks and dangers involved, are taken into account as far as humanly possible. There is, at times, difficulty in assessing the merits of applicants, either men or women, who have not been in action, or who have not served in the fighting zones. Frequently loss in such cases will be as great as for those who have served in the front line, but the soldier’s personal hardship will generally not be the same. No Hard and Fast Rules “Nevertheless, hardship to a family arising through separation may, and frequently will, be equal in both cases. “It is not possible to lay down any hard and fast rules for application to servicemen and women from different zones, and therefore all applications are dealt with on their merits and in the light of the policy defined above. “Ex-hcme-servicemen and women are assured that whatever applications they make for rehabilitation assistance, will receive careful consideration. In cases of doubt, rehabilitation committees or branches of the Rehabilitation Department are instructed to represent full facts to the Rehabilitation Board.”