VOCATIONAL TRAINING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10956, 19 July 1921, Page 7

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

GOOD PROGRESS REPORTED CURATIVE and occupational ACTIVITIES. lIEP OPT TO MINISTER. The Minister for Defence (the Hon. Sir Heaton Rhodes) has received a report, from the director of vocational u aining and the surgical workshops as .o the work done during the month of June last. In all; 833 service patients attended the training classes during the month, -an average of 51.3 hours being devoted to instruction by each man. m the NortJMsland 87.9 per cent, and m the South Island 87.4 per cent, of the in-patients attended classes. Tho sum of £273 19s lid was paid to the Soldiers 7 Recreation Fund ae profits on :he sale of products, the largest portion (£97 15s 4d) being received by the patients at the Monticello Home, Dunedin ; and £2lB 2s 4d was paid, to tho public account for the materials used. Seventy-eight civilian patients attended the workshops, averaging 30.5 hours’ attendance for the month. These v. ore distributed as follow:—Pukeora sanatorium, G; Trentham 3 8; Rotorua, dl ; Hauiner. 9; Caslimere, 7 ; Dunedin. Hospital, 10: Pleasant Valley Sanatorium, 27. Splints and surgical appliances to tho value of £2*lß 5s 6d were supplied to civilians, this being, the Highest yet reached. Maintenance work to the value of £59 3s 8d was performed in the vocational workshops. - ho* approximate tnonthly cost to the department of curative and vocational training for each patient under instruction since the beginning of the year is shown by the following figures:—January, £1 8s od; February, £1 8s lOd; March, £1 9s lid; April, £1 6s 6d; May, £1 os 4d; June, £1 4s Bd. POULTRY FARMING. Some 2590 eggs were produced at the Cashmere Poultry Farm during June, of which 2568 were supplied to the military sanatorium. It is found, states the report, that, apart from the actual trainees at the poultry farm, a considerable number of returned soldiers who have taken up poultrykeeping visit the farm for advice and experience; and the farm manager assists them in every way possible. Occupational work has bben stapfcetf at tlie Rannerdale Home, Christchurch. The patients are providing their own materials, and all products become their property. The necessary tools have been supplied by the Red Gross Society, and the Defence Department pays the salary of the instructress. A similar arrangement has come into force at the Evelyn Firth Home and the Dojnam shelters,. Auckland. It will also tfe extended to the five Dunedin subcentres (Pleasant Valley, Wakari, Woodsifte, Monticello> and Dunedin Hospital) next month. ..This will result in a considerable diminuri»n of accounting work. The new occupational workshop at Woodside Hospital, Dunedin, is being made good use of, eighteen patients attending regularly. At the recent Palmerston North Show sixtyfive prizes were awarded for vocational exhibits, ana of these twenty-nine were obtained by Rotorua patients. Five members> of the engineering class at. Trentham qualified for the oil-engin-eers 5 certificate ; and two of the Rotorua patients obtained motor-drivers* certificates. BEE-KEEPING, ETC. On account of the weather conditions the work of the bee-keeping and fruitfarming classes is now taking the form of indoor lectures. The assistant director of horticulture, the Government biologist, and the Government entomologist have kindly consented to deliver lectures to the patients at the Cashmere Military Sanatorium. The seagrass class at this institution now numbers thirty-four patients, and is ooinng excellent" work. All kinds of seagrass furniture are made, moet of the articles being bought by the patients for their own homes.