THE REHABILITATION BILL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24738, 15 October 1941, Page 4

THE REHABILITATION BILL

The closer the consideration that is given to the Rehabilitation Bill, which came under discussion in the House of Representatives last night, the greater must seem to be the undesirability of its being passed in its present form, in the dying stages of the session—perhaps even in the dying stages of the Parliament, for though it has been indicated that the session will close to-morrow, the electors do not yet know whether the general election is to be postponed as it should be. The object of the Bill, which is to assist the soldiers on their return from service to secure positions at least as satisfactory as those relinquished by them- on their joining the armed forces, must command general approval. But the Bill does not contain any definite indication of the procedure that is to be adopted in order that this object may be attained. Like so much of the legislation which the Government has promoted, it proposes to entrust Ministers with wide and even dictatorial powers. A National Rehabilitation Council is to be set up, consisting of persons appointed by the Government, which is to make recommendations to the Government in relation to the reestablishment of discharged servicemen in civil life, and there is to be a Rehabilitation Board, appointed by the Government, which is to organise provision for the rehabilitation of servicemen, but is to be “subject in all things to the control of the Minister” and is to “act in accordance with all directions, general or special, given to it by the Minister.” Who the Minister may be that is to exercise these powers does not appear. He will be “the Minister for the time being charged with the administration ” of the ‘ scheme of rehabilitation. He may be one of the Ministers in whom the com-

munity has the least cause for reposing any confidence. And so also, in that part of the Bill, relating to industrial reconstruction, which, as we have previously suggested, should be the subject of a separate measure, extensive powers are to be exercised by a Minister. It is the Minister of Finance in whose hands the general administi'ation of this part of the scheme is to be placed. The Minister of Labour, however, is to have the authority to require the continued employment in factories of hands for whom, when the war is over, these factories may be unable to provide any work. And the Minister for Industries and Commerce is to play an advisory part in certain phases of the reconstruction scheme. The extent to which it is prepared to bestow upon Ministers powers that may be arbitrarily exercised by them is a feature of the Bill that invites criticism. Apart from this the defects in the measure are so patent that even a postponement of its enactment might be preferable to its being passed after’ hurried discussion at the tail end of a session.