BACK AT WORK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23084, 9 January 1937, Page 19

BACK AT WORK

MEN WHO HAD LOST HOPE SOME TYPICAL INSTANCES (Special to Daily Times) WELLINGTON, Jan. 8. The Placement Service files record many instances of men who, rendered intensely despondent after several years of unemployment and dependence upon relief, have regained confidence in themselves and become mentally and physically alert when reinstated in regular work at their trade or calling. These are cases in which the worry of their situation has resulted in a hopeless outlook, dangerous alike to the individuals and the community. A case in point was that of a 56-year-old carpenter with a wife and three children, who was declared to have become “a nervous wreck and a distinct trial to his family” through persistent failure, over a period of five years, to secure work of any kind. The local placement officer had had his case under observation, and eventually induced a builder to give the man a trial. The effect was magical. Regular hours of work at standard rates of Say and pride in the knowledge that e was as skilful as of yore, changed the man from a pessimist to an alert artisan, whose family is marvelling at the transformation. Another carpenter of 64 had reached a serious condition of mind because the local builders declined to engage him. The placement officer’s inquiries on his behalf covered a wide range, and finally a building contractor in a town 60 miles away agreed to take him on, stating that so long as the man could do a day’s good work he did not care whether he was 100 years old. Here, again, the regular work and the

fact that he was back in the wageearning class, acted as a physical and mental tonic, a state of affairs that was reflected in the quality of his work. The responsibility of providing from his relief pay for a wife and nine children was borne for nearly five years by a man aged 57 who was expert at scaffold-building. As month followed month, and the needs of his family became more clamant as they grew older, he became more hopeless of ever being in a position to satisfy their urgent needs. Then he began.speculatively to study the great stocks of food and clothing in the shop windows, and to wonder why his children were almost starving while there was abundant food close at hand. These thoughts preyed on his mind and his family became alarmed. Finally, his wife induced him to have a talk with the local placement officer. Noting his mental condition, that official was dubious of placing him; but as the Public Works Department required a man to erect extensive scaffolding, he was sent to interview the foreman, who put him in charge of the job. His rehabilitation was instant, and when he dashed into his home in a wildly-excited condition he was incoherent, and his family were convinced for the moment that their worst fears had been real-

ised. ,( The list of such cases could be ex tended. They form possibly the mos interesting of the placements that an effected, because of the satisfaction ai officer feels when he has ac complished the seemingly impos sible task of finding suitable worl for men who have personally given uf hope, and who are gradually driftinf to that stage of mental and physica capacity when they will be declared tc be unemployable. The persistence of the search bj placement officers for the right kind of‘work for all enrolled men is frequently rewarded by unexpected placements, but when they are enabled to as it were, pluck a brand from the burning, their consciousness of the essential value of the placement service to the community generally must add to their pride of achievement.