PREFERENCE FOR SERVICEMEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 26 June 1945, Page 3

PREFERENCE FOR SERVICEMEN

LICENSED INDUSTRIES REHABILITATION MINISTER’S EXPLANATION In the preference given to servicemen in certain licensed industries it was wrong to suppose a man should be given a new. license in an undertaking there was already a sufficiency of licenses, said the Hon. C. F. Skinner, M.P. for Motueka and Minister of Rehabilitation, in the course of recent addresses at Takaka and Motueka. “As was announced in the newspapers a few days ago, the Industrial Efficiency Act has been amended to give preference to ex-servicemen in the transfer of licenses in certain licensed industries,” said Mr Skinner. "It has been said that not much material advantage will accrue to ex-servicemen as a resulet of this amendment, as the preference it gives to ex-servicemen 1 elates only to existing licenses. That is quite so, but surely no ex-serviceman would expect to be given a new license to operate in an industry already considered to be fully catered for. That is, in fact, our main principle when dealing with applications for loans to set up in businesses. There are such things, particularly in war-time, as dead-end occupations, and we do not want to responsible for setting up what may turn out to be dead-end businesses. Of course/ we will always hear the catchcry of “free enterprise” in this connection, but only too often would this fnean, eventually, freedom for the exserviceman to peddle boot-laces on the streets, as has happened in so many other countries, not only after the last war, but also at the present time —before this war is over. A sound business is one of the best ways in which a man or woman can be rehabilitated, but the business must be sound, above all, in the long-term view, and no-ex-serviceman who puts forward a good proposition in this field need ffear unsympathetic treatment from ,the Rehabilitation Board. THE CIVIL SERVANT “I want to say a word on behalf of the naueh-maligned civil servant against whom it seems to be the fashion to direct so many cheap sneers. The civil servant is not only a human being and a fellow-citizen, but is also a man especially qualified and trained for the position he holds, being no more prone to error, or to the habit of procrastination. than other members of the human race. In nine cases out of ten those who are the most bitter in their jibes are the least qualified to judge, from a professional point of view. Speaking of the Rehabilitation Department in particular, I also wish to point out that it is staffed as far as possible by returned servicemen, and any applicant for assistance car expect to receive fair and sympathetic reatment, though in a few cases I am sorry to say some applicants make it difficult for patience to be exercised. Anyway, there is no reason for anyone who observes the golden rule ‘o go away disgruntled or downhearted.