Minister Comments On Rehabilitation Plans

Northern Advocate, 21 August 1945, Page 2

Minister Comments On Rehabilitation Plans

(Special.) WELLINGTON, This Day. "We are more than ready to welcome back all our men and women from overseas and help them back into civilian life,” said the Minister for Rehabilitation (Hon. C. F. Skinner), in commenting on rehabilitation plans, particularly to meet the unexpected position which has arisen through the sudden end of the war. The Minister added that the main problem to date had been lack of manpower, but from now on the supply could be expected to begin catching up on the demand. Rehabilitation would thus be accomplished in the most natural manner, to the benefit of ihe whole community. "Thanks to New Zealand having started its rehabilitation scheme nearly four years ago, and thanks to the successful policy of decentralisation, ,ve have an experienced team of both departmental and voluntary workers anxious to grapple with the tpsk before us,” said Mr Skinner., “I want to assure the men and women still overseas, wherever they may be, that rehabilitation has become an efficiently working part of our natonal life and that most of their problems have been anticipated and provided for as far as wartime shortages will permit.” Shipping Problem. The Minister continued that it should not be expected that the advent of peace meant more men coming home within the next few months than would have been brought back in any case. The Government was doing its utmost to arrange for whatever shipping could be made available, but shipping was going to be an even greater problem in the immediate future through the sudden collapse of Japan. In the meantime, as had been announced by the Prime Minister, all men at present in New Zealand on indefinite leave without pay. and also the members of the first furlough draft who had had their dismissal cancelled, would now be eligible for consideration for all forms of rehabilitation assistance, so that the work of the Rehabilitation Department probably would be increased in the immediate future.

"We quite realise that general demobilisation will increase our problems, but it will also in the end provide the solution to the basic problem of manpower shortages,” said the Minister. "Most of our headaches so far hdve been due to labour shortages, which -have in turn caused many material shortages. Housing, for instance, has been the biggest problem of all, but with the return to civil life of thousands of fit men we hope to have not only more skilled building tradesmen, but also more men for work in the bush and the mills, in the coal mines and on the essential hydro-electric schemes.

Plenty of Timber. “In effect, although we will need many more houses, we will also be able to build many more. Timber will always be our chief building material and we have plenty of it standing in our forests, but we need the men to bring it out and mill it. I recognise, of course, that many men who previously worked in the bush and in the mines may net wish to return to such work, but we will do our utmost to attract all necessary labour there. "Even 12 months’ work producing timber and coal by those fit and suited for the job would be very welcome, and we will guarantee any ex-service-men full protection of his rehabilitation benefits and privileges after any such period of essential work.”

Decentralisation had brought about great improvements in efficiency and speed of decision, and it was hoped to be able to decentralise administration even further in the near future, Mr Skinner stated. The process l\ad been provided for when the rehabilitation organisation had been first set up and depended only on the experience of ihose concerned and the consequent uniformity of policy. The Servicemen’s Employment Division of the National Service Department was rendering valuable assistance in placing men in suitable employment if they desired such help, and many ex-servicemen already had availed themselves of its services. Moreover, a national survey of industrial needs was being taken with a view to assisting ex-servicemen into jobs with a future. f