AID FOR SOLDIERS

Waikato Times, Volume 194, Issue 22354, 22 May 1944, Page 2

AID FOR SOLDIERS

REHABILITATION PLAN HELP IN TRANSITION PERIOD When Mr T. H. Melrose made reference to the need for rehabilitation

at a meeting at Maeroa on Saturday night a member of the audience, who said he was an Auckland resident, complimented the speaker upon stating a case in its broad issues that was remarkable for its clarity and usefulness. He said he had heard many references to rehabilitation problems, but no speaker had yet approached the subject from the angle Mr Melrose had done. It was the right angle, and as a father of fighting sons he felt he should be lacking in a duty to all the New Zealanders on active service if he failed to call attention to it. Mr Melrose had said he served in the last war and had had some small part in the defence aspect of the present war. The first and most important task was to win the war, but the problem had to be faced of what was to be done with the men who have been fighting overseas to save New Zealand from invasion. Many of those men had gone overseas when only half-trained in their business avocations. What would happen when they came back? Who would look after them and see that they were fitted into occupations where they could become effective workers for the common weal? Period of Unrest These were questions that required answering, said Mr Melrose, and he questioned the usefulness of rehabilitation plans unless everybody was concerned in making them what they should be. He remembered the rehabilitation troubles after the Great War. The soldiers of today, and the airmen and sailors too, would not be able to “settle down” easily to normal occupations. There would be a period of unrest, for thev had been worked up to a pitch of nervous tension for a long period, quite unsettling most of them for the quiet, humdrum, easy-going life of the community in general. He appealed to people not to be too censorious of the fighting forces’ actions when they came home, and he predicted that it would take four or five years for the bulk of them to really take their place in normal life. Some would adapt themselves in a shorter time, while some would take even longer. It all depended upon the psychology of the individual, but that could be affected and influenced by the attitude toward them of those whom they had gone overseas to protect. Rehabilitation by the Government could , at best, only be a “cold hand” of officialdom, worse than it was in the last war. Help would be hedged round with a fence of red tape, representing departmental control. Was that likely to be successful with highly-strung, temperamental and neurotic individuals? Therefore it was incumbent upon everyone to help them. He felt they could be better rehabilitated by the people in their own community than directly by any rehabilitation department of the Government. which was too remote in its application. Intermediate Fund Mr Melrose suggested an intermediate fund to assist the ex-service-men during their transition period, of least. He honed some of the happenings after the last war would not be allowed to occur again, and he stressed the need for the steadying influence of older people in enabling the younger men to regain and develop their own judgment. People in New Zealand were smugly complacent especially now that the danger of invasion was past—and they had lived in the lan of’luxury comparatively, while the fighting forces were achieving wonders. Therefore, nothing should be too good for them when they returned to the Dominion. Mr Melrose’s remarks were received with a sustained round of applause.