DIRECTION OF RETURNED MEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 28 April 1945, Page 4

DIRECTION OF RETURNED MEN

NEEDED IN ESSENTIAL INDUSTRY REHABILITATION BENEFITS ONLY DEFERRED Wellington, April 27. Commenting on the fact that certain forms of immediate rehabilitation assistance wer e deferred in the case of Grade I. men who had returned to New Zealand under the replacement system, the Minister of Rehabilitation, Mr C. F. Skinner, said there seemed to be some uncertainty among the public regarding what was known as the second division replacement scheme. Briefly, the scheme was brought in to allow men who had seen long service overseas to return to the Dominion and at the same time keep the division in Europe up to strength. Returning men wer e to a great extent replaced by men who had been held on appeal in essential industries, and with New Zealand’s continuing war obligations such as her food commitments to Britain, it was very necessary that the gap thus made in the ranks of essential industry must also be filled. The only way to do this was to use all available manpower and to use returning Grade I. men in essential industries until such time as it was possible to release them to follow their chosen vocations. This did not apply to men in the lower medical grades, nor men of 41 years or over and married men with four or more children. If these returned Grade I. men were placed in essential industries they would still have their pre-service'occupations protected under the Occupational Re-estab-lishment Emergency Regulations. Every effort was being made to meet the preferences of the individual soldier as to what essential industry he entered. The main thing to remember, said Mr Skinner, was that rehabilitation benefits for these men if not granted immediately were merely being deferred.