The PROFESSIONS ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

Cue (NZERS), Issue 34, 31 October 1945, Page 14

The PROFESSIONS ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

E.R.S. has announced at various times help of all sorts to re-establish the soldier in civil life. Training for the tradesman, loans for the business man, both for the farmer ; all have suggested trying to leave no class of serviceman uncatered for. But amidst all these offers there is one class of men who must often have said ’’Just where do I come in?” That class is one which has perhaps suffered financially more than most by joining the army, namely the class who before the war conducted a one-man professional practice.

Be a man architect, lawyer or accountant, it is probable that he spent several painful years and a few hundred pounds building his practice up. There is nothing more personal than .such practices and in spite of all the safeguards adopted by professional associations to preserve them for their owners, they will be but pale shadows of their former selves when after an absence of two, three or four years the practitioners return to resume them.

Clients are often bound by a purely personal confidence in the skill or knowledge of a practitioner and when he hands them over to someone else it is unlikely that more than a proportion will transfer that confidence. Many will have chosen their 'own lawyers, as it may be, in the interval. Some will be irrecoverably lost. Few

will return instantly and unquestioningly.

It follows that in nearly every case that process of practice building will have to be glcne through again. It will not be as long a process or quite as painful but it will certainly occur. The Rehabilitation Department has recognised this and is prepared to do something towards mitigating the difficulties. It considers that in recommencing practice finance is necessary for four things: —

(a) The renting of office accommodation.

(b) Wages.

(c) Purchase of furniture, books etc.

(el) Maintenance for the serviceman and his family for some months until he has built up his income to a living standard.

'The Board has decided that the first three expenses can fairly be met by way of a Rehabilitation Business Loan repayable in (due course. The last expense, that of personal and family maintenance, will be met by a straight— out grant. Tire normal limits of a business lean, LSOO, will apply to the loan and the rate of interest will be 2 per cent for the first year and 4 per cent thereafter.

The grant is covered by different conditions. It is not intended to assist people to set up in business for the

first time so that a prime condition of its being made is that the applicant prove he was in practice before join - iug the army and that that practice was an economic one. Secondly assistance will be given only during the first year after setting up again. Thirdly, it will be limited to such an amount as will bring the ex-service-man’s personal earnings up to L3O a month. Finally not more than L 250 will be paid out in any one case so that if earnings in the first year amount to only LBO, the grant would be L 250 even though that would not bring the total earnings up to L3GO for the year.

It will naturally be necessary for the practitioner to produce his accounts for perusal and this has to be done quarterly, the grant being adjusted in accordance with the earn-

ings, where application has been made for its renewal. The grant is made in the first place for not more than four months, the amount decided being payable in advance from the date of commencing practice.

There are various clerical details which have to be complied with to obtain the grant and these will l e explained when it is applied for. Many professional men who have stored their furniture and equipment may need only the grant and not the loan.

The assistance will not raise a man’s standard of living to the level it was at before he joined up. It is not intended to. But it will be a very real help in bridging the gap between sufficiency and penury during the difficult recommencement period.