BUILDING INDUSTRY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 63, 16 December 1946, Page 3

BUILDING INDUSTRY

MANY EX-SERVICEMEN ATTRACTED i. PAKEHA AND MAORI Presaging well for the future of residential building in New Zealand is that one in every 49 men who served in the armed forces either overseas or in the Dominion has either completed or is undergoing intensive instruction in one of the building trades at the Rehabilitation Board’s trade training centres. That is the ratio for Europeans. For Maoris it is considerably higher, one in every 14 Maori ex-servicemen having made use of the direct training facilities offered by the Board to enter the building trades. The centres, which are scattered from one end of New Zealand to the other, teach carpentry, brick-laying, plastering, painting, paper-hanging and glazing, in the proportions considered necessary to produce what has been termed a “peace-time army of house-builders.” There are 24 carpentry centres alone, including three for the' exclusive benefit . of Maori trainees.

The ratios quoted are part of a table recently prepared by the Rehabilitation Department. The table gives the ratios for all types of rehabilitation assistance, apart from State housing and rehabilitation allowances, availed iof by Maori and pakeha ex-servicemen in relation to the number which served with the armed forces. A highlight "of ‘the table, which is. given below, is the numbers of ex-servicemen who have successfully sought to have their housing difficulties solved. Here are the figures:—

At Centres of 2 Disabled Servicemen’s League lin 106 lin 344 Farm Training 1 in 60 1 in 53 Another interesting feature of these figures is the large number, of European ex-servicemen who have availed themselves of the different types of educational facilities offered by the Board, and also the comparatively large number of both Maori and pakeha who have taken advantage of the free-of-interest loans to buy furniture. Many Place Themselves There is another side to the picture in the occupational field, a side which is a revealing testimony to the independent spirit of New Zealand ex-servicemen and to their proven ability to find for themselves It is that out of a total of 175,216 discharged servicemen and women 110,616 are recorded as having successfully attended to their own reestablishment in industry. Of these, 58,796 returned to pre-service employers, 4363 to their own businesses and 2721 to their own farms. Another 42,068 found jobs for themselves, and 2074 placed themselves in State employment'. Another 594 are depending on their private means. There are also'(not included in the above total) 7271 who have acquired their own business since returning and 3011 who have acquired farms'. However, all those . who obtained farms have done so through rehabilitation finance, while 4049 of the 7271 have similarly been assisted into business by the Rehabilita- " tion Boai'd. r

' ■ Loans Mapris Pakehas Farms 1 in 51 1 in 56 Housing 1 in 18 , 1 in 15 Furniture 1 in 13 1 in 10 Business 1 in 73 * 1 in 44 Tools of Trade 1 in 125 1 in 180 Education 1 in 76 1 in 11 Trade Training At Board’s Centres 1 in "14 /' 1 in 49 Qn Wage Subsidy 1 in 181 1 in 53 Revised Appren ticeships 1 in 1064 1 in 58