DISABLED CRAFTSMEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23220, 18 June 1937, Page 4

DISABLED CRAFTSMEN

EXHIBITION OF WORK OFFICIAL CEREMONY SERIOUS BEIN(i FACEtf An arr ■■ of','. how''. 'the disabled solders and? sailors of Great Britain we^^^irt^'giypn a new out-, look on lifejby their employment inuseful and fnterestiag work, was given by Mr H. W!' Guy,;;Organising secretary of the Soldiers arid.-Sailors' Mutual Association, at the opening of, the ex t hibition of articles made by disabled British craftsmen in the Concert Chamber; of the Town Hall yesterday afternoon. The president ,01 the Dunedin Returned Soldiers' Association (Mr C. L. Calvert) occupied the chair. A WORLD-WIDE* PROBLEM! '

The problem of settling badly disabled soldiers in useful occupations was a world-wide one,, the chairman; said, and that afternoon they saw'one aspect of how it was being tackled, in. Eng men, whose articles Were on exhibition, we've ail seriously : disabled; in fact, they Were cripples, and were in receipt O'f a war pension which enabled them etfly tti 'exist. ; By, the organisation responsible. for assisting them they had .been •developed, into finished craftsmen! and, their Jives had been made useful'tod; happy/;;' ( '.'"> [ GROWTH'%F: : SOCIETY■■;>'•

"Although 'we. ; .are.one>;of the largest of such organis^tionsin"England," Mr. Guy said, "we Mr£ only one of many. After the war eride&Mhere; were thou-* sands of crippled : \frien.. ; and although they were well-cared 10r,.' the., time came when the hospitals', could do no more for them, and they were pushed out into the street." '■'.-• '■:*■ The problem of finding work for. these men was a serious one, Mr Guy continued. They had their pension, of course, but they M'ere ambitious, and wanted to live and work like the rest of the community; and. so throughout England these organisations-sprang up. The speaker referred to the small beginnings of the:society arid- traced, its development after the war Until the, formation of the; settlement _on . the Derbyshire moors- -outside Sheffield,. Here there were, now -20 bungalows where the men lived with their, wives and families, and in the spaces of 20 years the establishment had become the < largest textile printing industry for disabled men in the world. And that stage had been reached without any charitable assistance.—^(Applause.) The men were happy and contented, said Mr Guy, who paid a tribute not only to the disabled craftsmen themselves, but also to their wives, who, although they did not always Jiave an easy, time, were simply magnificent. It would be a crime, he said/to allow the spirit of such men to rot in idleness; and it was essential that work should be found for them to do. u was only through such an organisation as theirs .that the men could hope to obtain any self-satisfaction at all. The society had brought out the? exhibition to New Zealand at the request of New Zealanders in England and it was' hoped to stimulate interest in this country for the Dominions own disabled men. There were 465,000 disabled men in England to-day. and a considerable proportion of them were ovc- 70 per cent, disabled. New Zealand had just as large a number in proportion to its population, and the problem of their settlement, was an Empire one which should be tackled as a whole. . '.' .' " Do not think of our society in terms of disabled men alone," concluded the sneaker. " for we are building up something that will be a national asset. There were startling numbers of people nr-manentlv injured in accidents every clav. as well as those unfortunates who were born crippled. The work that was being carried on in England could be done by them. He hoped that some dp«" something in the same nature mitfht be established in New Zealand for Dominion people. THE MAYOR'S REMARKS "It affords me great pleasure." said the Mayor (the Rev. E. T. Cox), who omciaily opened ■ the exhibition, to commend to the notice of Dunedin citizens this exhibition of the work of British war-disabled craftsmen. 'Amongst the many tragedies of the war period, not the least distressing is that of the permanently disabled soldiers and sailors. No Government has yet had the courage to do these men justice. These men, through the sacrifices they made with their comrades, have become unfitted for the ordinary avocations of life. Thus they are thrust out of private employment by the system which prevails, where every, man employed must be able to turn out his specified quota of work daily, and-he has been left to exist on a totally, inadequate pension. It is true that the dimensions ,of the pension payments would have staggered any previous generation, but it is not sufficient to maintain these men in .the ordinary standards of comfort enjoyed by the average citizen. . u ... " Hence they have been compelled to band together in. groups and learn craftsmanship which serves a double purpose. First, they are able to supplement their incomes, and this, to my mind, is most important, for unless a man can have for . himself and his family a regular income of suitable dimensions he tends to lose his good spirits and his faith in the nation and community of which he is a member. It further provides him with an interest in life, which is a very important factor in human happiness. " The work displayed here to-day indicates that both of these objectives are being met, so-1 heartily commend the sale as well as the exhibition to the notice of the .public." DUNEDIN MEN'S WORK

The president of the disabled diers' factory'(Mr E J.'-Anderson), who proposed a vote of thanks to the Mayor and the .chairman, said he would be failing in his duty if he did not express the appreciation of the men at the factory to Mr Guy for allowing a stand in the exhibition containing articles made by Dunedin disabled soldiers. Mr Anderson referred to the fact that, in a space of three years, the men in Dunedin had doubled their turnover*, and Jast year, after supplementing their economic pensions, had made a profit- of £llOO ARTISTIC WORK The articles displayed on the stands testify eloquently to the skill of the disabled craftsmen. Silk scarves, ties, handkerchiefs, dressing gowns, bedspreads, overalls, dresses cushion covers and socks are all beautifully made 'and Worked, and would be a credit to men who had the full use of all their limbs. The leather work and other fancy articles on the Dunedin returned soldiers' stand are also of a high standard, and compare favourably with the products from England. Members of the Otago branch of the Victoria League, gave assistance on the stalls yesterday and to-day the Otago Women's Club will assist in selling the articles. ■','..''■