REHABILITATION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 74, 15 May 1946, Page 2

REHABILITATION

MAORI AND PAKEHA NEEDS The most recent figures released by the Rehabilitation Department evidence not only the total value of assistance authorised by the department for demobilised men and women and their dependants but also what have been their comparative needs under various headings. By far the most pressing demand is indicated by the £14,686,264 authorised for the acquisition of farms, businesses, homes, furniture, tools of trade and other minor miscellaneous items of a similar nature. Related to these loans is a further £3,291,259 actually spent by the end of December in the purchase and development of farm properties. Under the remaining major headings of authorised assistance thegroup including training and education points to another eager demand for aid. The figures for trade training are £1,124,934, for farm training £103,906, and for education £248,147. Although the figures in these groups take the authorisations up to the end of last year they represent separate items as only from April, 1944. Difficulties of an inevitable but fortunately small and constantly changing group of men are recorded' in the amount of £524,032 which had actually been paid at the end of 1945 in rehabilitation allowances. These allowances are paid as an interim assistance to discharged men who for various reasons cannot immediately find suitable employment. None of the allowances has a currency of more than 13 weeks. The Maoris’ Demands

Authorised assistance to Maoris by the end of the year had totalled £189,424. In reading the figures relating to Maori assistance however it should be remembered that they are necessarily incomplete; for the individual Maori is eligible for assistance through other than his own agency, the Maori Rehabilitation Finance Committee. Of the total assistance authorised for the Maori noted above £170,907 has been made available through the Maori Committee- and the balance under the Native Land Act and the Native Housing Act. An interesting aspect of the figures relating to the Maoris is a duplicate reflection of the Pakehas’ most pressing problem, the provision of homes. Through the Maori Rehabilitation Finance Committee and under the Native'Housing Act Maoris have been authorised .loans to the value of, respectively, £49,599 and £13,834 for the erection of houses, while the purchase of houses, their extension and repair, have also had their weight in the total figures. The combined value of the loans for the purchase and settlement of farms authorised by the Maori Rehabilitation Finance Committee and under the Native Land Act is £89,645.

Altogether £20,274,459 had been athorised for rehabilitation purposes at the close of 1945.