INFORMING TROOPS OVERSEAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 19 September 1945, Page 6

INFORMING TROOPS OVERSEAS

REHABILITATION BENEFITS “PICTURE IS NOT OVER-PAINTED” New Zealand troops waiting in Italy and Egypt for the transports to bring them home are being kept up-to-date, on rehabilitation matters, says a statement issued by the Rehabilitation Department. By lectures, personal talks and reading material they are learning more and more on this very vital subject which in some respect or other will almost certainly affect all of them. Most of the information is passed on by officers and n.c.o.s of the Education and Rehabilitation Service, a special army unit set up for those specific duties. Many of the soldiers are taking advantage of study courses offered in preparation for the day when they will be back in civvy street, and here again the E.R.S. is doing an excellent job. *‘ln ail the information given,” continues the statement, “the greatest care is taken to ensure that the picture is not over-painted, as has been suggested by various people in New Zealand from time to time. Indeed, it is on the contrary, underpainted. The men are told, for instance, that loans for farms are available, but are also informed of the difficulties. The impression is certainly not created that a few weeks after a man walks off the ship he will be running his own farm, no matter how experienced or capable he >s. Similarly, he is kept posted regarding the housing problem. As it happens, most of those still in the Mediterranean theatre are men who were in New Zealand for some years during the war before joining the Middle East Division, and they are aware of the difficulties that existed then. “Much of the advice and information concerns post-service vocations, and ii is here that the study courses are proving beneficial. Officers and n.c.o.s of the E.R.S. find, however, that, although the men take an apparent general interest in rehabilitation, it is not until they strike a particular personal problem that most of them give the matter really serious thought. “Similar arrangements have existed for some time in the United Kingdom, where the E.R.S. has in addition to its usual tasks, had to deal with the rehabilitation queries and immediate needs of large numbers qf repatriated prisoners-of-war. Numbers of New Zealand servicemen in England have been awarded educational bursaries while others have been able to do refresher courses in their occupation, either with private firms or by study facilities provided. “Meantime, in addition to the abovementioned methods of disseminating information, two films on rehabilitation have been sent, not only to the Middle East, but also to the United Kingdom and the Pacific.”