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Right Hon. the Prime Minister emphasized that the planned rehabilitation of public servants was an urgent matter. Among the addresses given at the conference was one by the Hon. the Minister of Rehabilitation. The conference proved of great value. A variety of concessions has already been in operation for some time. For instance, some public servants on their return are not immediately ready to settle down in their Service work again. The welfare of the individual ex-serviceman must be placed above the immediate convenience of the Public Service, and accordingly arrangements have been made whereby officers who, on returning from service, desire to engage in outside employment may apply for up to eighteen months' leave without pay to give such outside employment a trial without losing Service rights. Such applications are granted only where it is clear that the inability of an officer to settle down flows from the nature and extent of his service in the Armed Forces. Other concessions include the payment by the Government of superannuation contributions on nominal salaries. Leave is accumulated at the rate of two weeks per annum until the return of a serviceman to his Department. Leave so accumulated may be cashed or taken in such instalments as will best assist an ex-serviceman. In many cases promotions have already been granted to men still overseas, and acting appointments have been made in a number of cases to safeguard the rights of those still in the Armed Forces. These concessions, although of a substantial value, do not, of course, meet the basic need to supply the deficiencies in knowledge and experience which inevitably arise through a serviceman's absence from his Department. Ex-servicemen are given the right of appeal against any appointments made during their absence, provided their own appointments to the positions would have involved their promotion. It has also been provided by emergency regulations that absence from duty from causes arising out of the war shall not be taken into account when determining efficiency, experience, and suitability for appointment to any position for which the ex-serviceman would have been eligible if he had not been absent from duty. These provisions give very considerable protection to the interests of ex-servicemen as far as promotions and regradings approved during their absence are concerned. Those ex-servicemen who desire to pursue approved study courses are being granted leave up to a maximum of ten hours weekly without any deduction from pay. The exact period allowed is governed by the nature and difficulty of the subjects taken and by the opportunities and time which the public servant has lost through service in the Armed Forces. Those ex-servicemen who are granted full-time bursaries by the Rehabilitation Board are being given leave without pay to enable them to undertake the courses. This concession applies to the two-year course for the Diploma of Public Administration at Victoria University College. It is hoped that there will be sufficient applicants to enable the School of Public Administration to be reopened next year. It is clear that many ex-servicemen will not possess the educational qualification for promotion beyond Class VI and will have to pass the special examination which is laid down in the regulations. It is proposed to provide special tutorial facilities to enable ex-servicemen, together with those still in the Armed Forces, to prepare for this examination. Similar facilities are already being provided for those ex-servicemen on the temporary staff who do not possess the initial educational qualifications for permanent appointment. In normal times the minimum educational requirement is a pass in the Public Service Entrance Examination, but a special examination has been drawn up for temporary officers in the following subjects :— (a) Elementary Public Service knowledge : (£>) English : (c) Applied arithmetic : (d) New Zealand history or New Zealand geography. Those who are stationed in Wellington attend regular lectures during office hours delivered by specialists in the various subjects. Those who are employed outside Wellington are being given the advantage of specially prepared correspondence courses. Ultimately these courses will be extended to those still in the Armed Forces. The classes in Wellington have been in operation since early April, and although it is too early to estimate results, it has been pleasing to hear of the keen and intelligent interest displayed by members of the classes. Arrangements are now being made with Victoria University College for the holding of short courses of, say, three weeks' duration to bring ex-service personnel up to date with recent economic, social, and administrative developments in New Zealand. Departments have been instructed to prepare rehabilitation training plans. These will include, where practicable, formal training classes, lectures, addresses, group discussions, and study courses. The majority of servicemen had gained comparatively little experience in their Departments before they entered the Armed Forces, and it is intended that the loss of actual experience will be covered by a system of job rotation designed to give a man accelerated experience in various branches of his Department. The need for staff-training, involving as it does a systematic programme of providing knowledge and experience, was obvious before the war, but it has now become a pressing necessity if rehabilitation is to be successful. The welfare of ex-servicemen in his Department is, of course, one of the primary responsibilities of the Personnel Officer. He is to take an active and personal interest in each serviceman belonging to the Department until the process of rehabilitation is completed as far as humanly possible.

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