REPATRIATION OF SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 232, 19 June 1918, Page 7

REPATRIATION OF SOLDIERS

0 : THE PARTIALLY INCAPACITATED /' SOLDIER. •; Ihe Australian committee which has ; been appointed by the Minister of Repamalion (Senator Millcn) to. inquire ! into the possibilities of telephone instrument construction as an indnstiY for returned disabled soldiers held a pre- I liniiuary meeting recently. i The Minister, in the course of a brief i address to tho members of tho commit- < •tee, said Itliey would naturally havo 1 some regard to tho commercial'sido of ' ! the venture, and, whilo be did not want i that side to bo entirely lost eight of, ho desired tho committee to know that i ho was not: looking for an entirely commercial, profitable undertaking. He was faced with the problem of finding employinent for men who would never be- ' come thoroughly competent and efficient workmen in an ordinary factory, but who would still have a useful degree of ca- ! pacity. If placed in an ordinary factory such men might be somewhat of a hindrance. With sucli men there wero two 1 alternatives. One was to provide them with an income by way of a pension, supplemented whero necessary by tho Re- '< patriation department, which would enable them to live in decent comfort with- : out working; and the other was to fina them an occupation wjiere they would- ! bo _iiblo to earn a portion of the income winch they would receive. It was obviously better for the men and the • ' country that they should earn whatever they could, oven if it was not mora than ' j half tho wage they would have to b-. ! paid to enable them to live, than that i i , c ®P aci tVi though greatly reduced, should bo allowed to go to waslo and tho men be faced with a lifo of useless idleness. Therefore he desired that the i committee should not judgo the question! entirely from a commercial standpoint, as though they were business men look- • ing for a profitable outlet for capital. ! He did not expect that tho making of telephono instruments by returned soldiers would prove commercially profitable, but lie desired to know what would i be tho probable loss. He had received a letter from tho Postmaster-General's Department which rather seriously discounted the making of telephone instnmicnts as a moans of employing re* ' turned soldiers. Ho proposed to make this availablo for the information of the i committee. '