DISCHARGED SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2890, 30 September 1916, Page 8

DISCHARGED SOLDIERS

ISSUE OF UNDER-RATE PERMITS

WORK FOR MAIMED'MEN MINISTER DISCUSSES IMPORTANT PROBLEM Tiie Attorney-General, tho Hon. A. L. Herdman, when questioned yesterday about the operations of tho Discharged Soldiers' Department, stated that tho Deportment, had every reason to be satisfied with the results of its efforts to 'place men. in employment. Tho existing /machinery was working smoothly 31111 efficiently, and the gentlemen comprising the various agencies established throughout tho Dominion — 36 in all—were, performing the work allotted to them satisfactorily. As recently there had'not been such, a large influx of returning men, the Departmental officers had the. work well in hand; but the fact that the lull was only temporary, had not been lost sight of, arid Mr. Samson and his assistants w-ero quite prepared to meet any fresh emergency that may arise. "I notice," said Mr. iierdman, "that the subject of undcr-rate 'permits' for- discharged soldiers, and the question of tho employment of disabled men, have been- occupying the attention of gentlemen in the Canterbury district. It seems to mo that some who have spoken publicly 011 these questions are not quite familiar with the steps that have been taken by the Government in connection witli these matters. On January 31 last, the Government nrrangec} that an Ordor-in-Council should be issued authorising those inspectors of faotories - who are approved by the Chief Inspector to issue discharged soldiers' permits. Whenever tho Department has required an under-rate permit careful inquiries have been made by the Inspector of Factories authorised to deal with the case, and after hearing tho representative of the union concerned 011 the one hand, and the discharged soldier or an- agent appearing on his behalf on the other hand, the inspector has fixed such rate of wage as he considered the applicant competent to earn.' "Up to t.h'e present no material trouble, .has arisen out of tho practice of-issuing those permits,'but the privilege of obtaining them does not appear to find favour with returned soldiers, who have not evinced any strong desire to work for wages which are belotf tho market rate. So far only seven or eight permits have been lssimd throughout New Zealand. "Regarding the employment of m /" ned , ™® n , I mn.v mention that out ot the 1049 men actually placed in employment by the Department,- 55 are maimed men. These figures do not, of course, -include men whose health has »een undermined by disease. They include men who havo lost a limb or have been partially paralvsed or badly Vl ,Ur « about the body - The fact fiat the 55 men referred to are in receipt of a pension of £52 per annum or upwards indicates that thev are nil suffering from some serious disability. "I think it is unfortunate that more returned men do not avail themselves of the facilities- given ' for learning trades. Tho Government lias agreed to provide free places in Technical Schools for discharged soldiers certified by tho Discharged Soldiers Department, but littlo advantage has been taken of the' Government's offer. Tb« Auckland Patriotic Society has made a special feature of tuition of this kind, hut tho results up to tho present havo .not been, specially encouraging. Similarly, barely ikTmon have-so far availed .themselves of tho-Now Zealand Society of Accountants' schemo ' for tlio fre'» training in- -book-keeping, of discharged «oldier s accredited-by the -Department. _ "Tlio work, which this Department is performing now is.nothing compared -with what it will havo to undertake when the war comes to an" end. and in army of fifty or sixty thousand men becomes disbanded. Wo can cope with the work now. That is evidenced bv tiie circumstance that out, of 5515 meii who hijve : returned (and of whom r. number are not yet fit for civil employment) wc have disposed of 4494 men. But when I come to contemplate, say, GfI.OOQ men landing in New Zealand, of which number nerhaps 50 per cent, may look to the State to find suitable flmplovment for them.- I begin to renlise that the work which the Department will then havo to exeonte will be both difficult and strenuous. The vfficers of my Department aro anxiously considering.this phase of tho discharged soldier problem now. ■ and wo hope to devise some practicable schemo which >ill go a lone wav in the direction of overcoming the difficulties which aru certain to arise."