EX-SOLDIERS’ REHABILITATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 9

EX-SOLDIERS’ REHABILITATION.

REPORT OF COMMISSION.

IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATIONS.

EXTENSION OF BENEFITS OF ACT.

(Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, May 9. The report by the Ex-soldiehs’ Rehabilitation Commission has been issued. It covers 26 printed pages. One’hundred and sixtysix witnesses were examined. The committee makes the following recommendations, for all of which legislation ’ will be necessary: - r- ,^ e A™ tion °£ t* l6 a S e f° r eligibility for the old age pension xor South Aftican War veterans. . Reduction of the age for eligibility for the old age pension for ex-soldiers. (3) Abolition of , the time limit as an element in the qualification of certain wives as “ dependents,” with the right of appeal for a wife whose application for a pension as a dependent is refused. (4) Abolition of the time limit as an element in the qualification of certain widows as dependents, with the repeal of proviso that certain widows shall receive a gratuity instead of pension. ■ (5) Abolition of the time limit of seven years in which probability ” may be invoked as evidence of “ attributability.” (6) The formation and incorporation of a soldiers’ civil reestablishment league. , (7) Discretionary power in the Minister to allow war pensions to certain New , Zealand soldiers who served with other British forces. • (5) Extension of the benefits of the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Acts and the Repatriation Act in certain eases to British ex-soldiers other than New Zealanders.

FUNCTIONS' OF , LEAGUE. With regard to what it terms its major recommendation, the commission says: “Briefly, we advocate the formation of a new body to have and to undertake as its function the creation, organisation, development, and administration of all branches of activity and all schemes designed for the rehabilitation and betterment of the ex-service men in this Dominion. The advantages we aim at arc: First, co-ordination; of the efforts now divided amongst various bodies; second, uniformity of operation within the Dominion, as far as possible, and consistent with the necessary elasticity to meet local conditions ; and third,, the creation of a body that can negotiate promptly and authoritatively with the Government of the Dominion, local bodies, and private employers in the interests of returned soldiers, “ Our idea is that this central body at its headquarters should have; an executive that can watch, deal with, secure and promote all matters of principle or policy affecting the interests of returned soldiers; that it should be capable, where necessary, of negotiating with the Government of the day, with local .bodies, and other corporations; that it should promote and watch the promotion and passing of legislation, and discuss and advise on tlie policies adopted for carrying out legislation, and the policies and methods for the social, industrial, economic, health, and general welfare of returned soldiers. We suggest that this body should have depart-? meats, or committees, each designed to take in hand some specified part of the whole work of the body; that branches of, this body should exist in all large centres of population, where the branches will themselves function to carry out the objects and aims of the body, and so have power to co-operate with, and if necessary affiliate with, sub-organisa-tions, where is seems desirable to work in that fashion. "We suggest also that this body should,.in addition to its foregoing ac-tivities,-be in appropriate cases the employer and trainer of the men and the negotiator of contracts for employment with other employers; that it should engage and control employment and after.-care officers, assist in the' establishment of the policies for settling returned soldiers on the land; and, in the carrying\out of those policies, we think it desirable that for this purpose it should co-opt on its various committees State officers from the departments concerned. We suggest that it should deal in principle, and to some extent in administration, with the applications for, and the granting of, pensions, and for this purpose should have the power to co-opt officers of the Pensions Department on the appropriate committees. We think that it should eventually control all the funds available for the alleviation of the conditions of ex-service men. THE SIX QUESTIONS. questions were submitted to the committion. Replying to the first question: What are the present condition , and. circumstances of persons affected, their approximate number and the nature of their .disabilities?— The commission states that the average age of these is probably between 38 and 45, some being as old as 70. Many understated their ages when joining up with the forces, and war experience bad an unsettling tendency and a particularly bad effect when it was sought to repatriate them. They never found a place in the economic industrial machine, but have , drifted from casual work to casual work, and it is only now, when approaching the average age mentioned above, that the deepest anxiety and despair are being felt at their prospects for the future, not only for'themselves but for their wives children. This anxiety and despair are breaking the nerves of the men, gnd so deteriorating material which it is desirable that we should endeavour to rehabilitate. In general terms their circumstances may be described as on the “ bread and butter” line. Their number is about 5000, and their disabilities generally are due to war wounds and impaired health, due to war services. In reply to question 2, ns to adequacy of pensions, no recommendation is made to increase pensions to veterans of the Maori War. The South African veterans now number about 4000, and the commission does not recommend the request of the South African Veterans’ Association that service pension of £SO per annum be paid to all such veterans, irrespective of their health or financial standing, and purely as a reward for services in South Africa, or a similar pension to all such veterans on attain--ing the age of 05 years; blit it does recommend the reduction of the age for eligibility for the old-age pension in the case of such veterans, from 05 to GO years. Classes of cases arising out of the Great War are discussed in considerabk detail. For such cases, the major recommendation of the commission embraces the formation of a Soldiers’ Civil Re establishment League, and that the ad ministration of the economic pensions scheme be worked in conjunction with this league. This league with its branches in every centre, will know the men who are the subjects of the present problem, and will have employment and rehabilitation officers in touch with them, and with the executive of the league. As to those men in the class of 50 per cent, disability or over, the league’s officers, with full knowledge of the in-dividual-men, will report “ these men as unemployable and quite unable to

support themselves, and will recommend them for the full economic pension.'” As to the others their cases as potential pensioners will be considered by the league in connection with its efforts to find work. The league’s committees will . have knowledge of all these men. They will .know .their capabilities, they will know the work they are fitted for, and the work they are doing. They will therefore he able, not only to take into account the economic factors in the lives of these men, but largely to govern and control these factors, and their policy will be to reduce the need for a pension by increasing the economic and earning factors in each man’s life. . We recommend that, as a general principle, the finding and recommendation of the appropriate committee of the league, should fix a man’s right to the economic pension. ■ OTHER CLASSES OF CASE. It is also recommended that grants of economic pensions to mental patients should be left to ,tbe discretion of the league, As to the life of the funds available to meet necessitous cases nothing definite can be stated. All that cap be said is that some similar funds have been exhausted, some are approach mg exhaustion, and few of them are expected to last more than. 10, years. The length of time that will elapse before the money of .the War Funds Council is exhausted will depend on the extent ot the calls on it by other bodies as theii funds become The present, policy of the Canteen Fund trustees is tp reserve their funds to stand behind the War Funds Council as a final source of supply. Question 3: Inquire and report upou, generally, the means -by which- the remaining capacity of such persons as aforesaid can best be utilised so as to enable them, in whole or in part, to maintain themselves and - their dependents, and the advisability (or otherwise) of adopting any particular means which may be proposed to or bv vou for that purpose. No effective answer can be given to this question, even in general term?, without first making an occupational classification of the persons affected. Under this heading the commission discusses, ‘special farming schemes,’ ‘unskilled labour,’ ‘artisans and skilled tradesmen,’ ‘ messengers, porters, liftmen, ‘under-rate workers,’ and suggests that such cases should be left to the discretion of the aforementioned leagpe.” / Question 4 was to inquire into'and report in relation to cases where no means were likely to enable such perto be able by their own efforts, partially or wholly, to maintain themselves and their dependents, and tlje best means of affording, assistance to them. The commission finds that the cases fall into two classes. The first comprises pensioners under qur own Pensions .Act, and the commission considers that/ the provision for those totally disabled is adequate, , As to pensioners whose total disability is not entirely due to war service, the commission thinks some anomalies may be cleared away, and for extra sustenance they should look to the war funds. As to the second class, who are non-pen-sioners,they fall into two subdivisions—those whose total inability to maintain themselves i is not attributable to war service, and those whose inability is due to the infirmities of old age. The commission considers that the first subdivision must also look to the war funds; as to the second s - hdi vision the recommendation is that .the league should apply the provisions of the Rest House* Act of 1929. Question No. 5 was the classes of persons who should come within the scope of. the, recommendations and the principles governing such classification. The answer js; Our recommendation may he briefly summarised as those relating to pensions, cottage homes, veterans’ homes, settlement on land, settlement in bust ness, including in each of these cases for the establishment in an undertaking, special vocational training, and provisions for assistance by employment officers. The commission does not consider that ex-Imperial soldiers should come under the war pension provisions on the ground that each part of the Empire must look after its own men. They make an exception, however, in favoui of New Zealanders compelled by circum stances to enlist under conditions which technically exclude them from the New Zealand pension statutes, and quote several eases of hardship. The commission also considers that all ex-service men from any part of the Empire now settled in the Dominion should he entitled to tile advantages of tinprovision for settlement on the land or - in business, if they can give sufficient

assurance to the league that they have a reasonable chance of- succeeding. # Question 6 merely referred to legislation. that may be necessary, DOMINION VICE-PRESIDENT’S VIEWS. j MR E. J. ANDERSON INTERVIEWED. Asked by a Daily Time's reporter last night for his views on the summary of the commission’s report, Mr E. J. Anderson, district vice-president of the N.Z.R.S.A., said that, in his opinion, the most important recommendation was that recommending the formation and incorporation of a soldiers’ civil re-establish-ment deague. The Dunedin Association he said, had found from experience that the present method of giving advice regarding pensions, pensions appeals, and the distribution of war funds by various independent organisations, would be beneficially supplanted by the undertaking of thL work by one central body. Though everything possible in the interests of returned men was being done at present, the work would undoubtedly be more efficiently despatched.by the means suggested in the commission’s report. Another'aspect of the recommendation concerned the economic pensions recommended by the 1923 commission which tide a pensioner over a period of nonearning capacity. This had been of considerable assistance, but its application under the aegis of the. proposed civil re-establishment league should be more beneficial and the local advisory committee would be more in touch with the requirements of each individual case. "Mr Anderson said that a scheme for a central league was not entirely a new one as there was at present a limited liability company in England—the Preston Hall scheme—which, in its own locality dealt with the whole problem of rehabilitation. -. The recommendations numbered (1), (2), (3) and (4) had all been framed on points stressed by the N.Z.R.S.A. for. some time past and (3) was recommended by the 1923 commission, but was, unfortunately, not adapted then. (1). an£ l (2), both as regards the South African War veterans and the men who served in the Great War, were reasonable propositions because many servicemen, while not being.able to point to a pensionable disability, would undoubtedly be prematurely aged and therefore would benefit by an- earlier old-age pension. , Referring to the recommendation numbered (8), Mr Anderson said that there waa , no doubt ■ that the Acts would be available to .British ex-soldiers who had settled in the Dominion and had adopted New Zealand citizenship. The Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act was open only to T.B. cases and to men who had more than a 50 per cent, disability—i.c., pensioners getting more than £1 per week in pensions. Both Acts, in the opinion of the N.Z.R.S.A., were closed down too soon, and it would be interesting to see, in . full report, if the re-opening and widening of their present application were recommended. Mr Anderson went on to say that the necessity for putting the rehabilitation of the ex-soldier on the lines suggested by the commission was clearly shown by the fact that there were 6000 men whose present disabilities were due to war wounds and,impaired health arising from war service and who were consequently in need of the assistance that could he given them by a league such as that which had been proposed! Experience had shown that men who were not pensioned were beginning to-show the • effects of war service, and the league would be able to deal with such cases as they arose. . In this connection, it was interesting to note that the commission recommended the abolition of the seven years’ time limit. If this recommendation were given effect to, the onus would not be on the soldier to prove attributability even after a period of seven years had elapsed. Asked regarding the steps to.be taken to secure the legislation necessary for the enforcement of the recommendations of the commission, Mr Anderson said that, if the full report is received in time, it would undoubtedly be fully discussed at the annual conference to be held in Wellington from June 24. The N.Z.R.S.A, had all along taken the view Jhat this was a non-contentious matter, and it would certainly do its utmost to put the recommendations, where advisinto practical effect by giving all possible assistance to the authorities in framing the necessary legislation or in any other way. The commission, so far as could be gathered from the published summary of the report, did not seem to have, recommended the establishment of veterans’ homes or any settlement schemes. This had probably been left to the proposed, settlement league, which, either from a Dominion point of view or according to local requirements, would be able to carry out any such group efforts. In conclusion, .Mr Anderson referred to the special interest the report had here In view of the fact that the first suggestion that such a commission should be set up emanated from the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association. BANKRUPTCY ACT. —r BUILDER BEFORE THE COURT. FAILURE TO KEEP PROPER BOOKS. (Per United Fbess Association.) t AUCKLAND, May 9.- * The trial of Clarence William Bruce,' of Auckland, builder, on a charge of wilfully failing to keep proper books for three years before his bankruptcy, with intent to conceal the true state of his affairs, was concluded in the Supreme Court. An alternative count was that the accused, failed to keep proper .books foV a small builder. The accused seemed to have been exceptionally busy, said Ills Honor in summing up. His practice was to buy a section, pay a deposit, and leave the balance of the purchase money on second mortgage with the vendor. From January to the end .of April, 1929, the accused built houses on 10 sections, and be failed in July for £28,230. His assets were £28,160,. which was a nominal shortage of £7O, but a certain number of the second mortgagees would get nothing. On affairs as they stood it was unfortunate that the only book kept by the accused was missing. The claim of the defence was that this book contained all the particulars usually found in journal, ledger, cash book, and wages book. As to what the book contained the Crown witnesses who had recollections of it described it as wholly inadequate. Tile question was whether the hook contained all the accused said it did. Everything went to show a tremendous difficulty in arriving at the accused’s position. He was a man with large interests, who made no attempt to save the situation when he found he was getting behind, but filed his own petition in bankruptcy. If he really made profits out of the first mortgages, and these were concealed, he would simply get rid of his personal liability when he received Ins discharges. The Crown case was that the houses were built at such low costs as to give a surplus. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of wilful failure to keep proper oooks, and sentence was deferred. The accused’s counsel said he would ask leave to apply to the Court of Appeal for*a retrial. His Honor said he would consider the point later.