SOLDIER PATIENTS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 92, 13 January 1920, Page 5

SOLDIER PATIENTS

» AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING . WHAT IS BEING DONE Interviewed by a Dominion' representative yesterday, Major W. A. G. Penlington (Director of Vocational Training) and Captain Galloway (Vocational Training Officer for the "Wellington district) gave some information regarding the activities .of the Department in the Dominion generally. 1 The Department'is concerned only with soldiers in hospital and soldier cutpatients of hospitals. These men perform, under the Department's direction, work which is classed under three headings: (1) Curative, (2) occupational, and (3) vocational. Curative work is dono in accordance with instructions given by a medical officer, and jts purpose, in the main, is to restore lost muscle functions. It is, of coursc, compulsory. "Occupational work" is not compulsory, but is allowed to bo taken rip by men who desire it as an agreeable means of passing tlio time. The third category-that ot "vocational training"—is the one affecting the greatest number of \oc«itional training," as name implies, provides the soldier with a chance to learn a new trade or profession, or io renew, his familiarity with an old one. Popular Subjects, In the whole of New' Zealand, 1400 men aro receiving vocational training. The most popular of the subjects (it lias attracted 190 students) is motor engineering. This does not mean that 190 now motor engineers are in training. As a matter of fact, only a few of the men propose to take up motor engineering as a trade, and the majority are simply men who wish for various reasons to have a .general knowledge of motor engines. Many aro farmers who are learning how to drive such as they may have use for in their daily work. Similarly, quite less than half of the 150 men who are receiving' instruction in carpentry intend to take up the trade. Agriculture and Poultry Farming. Agricultural'subjects are taught in practically all the military hospitals, but the attenilanco at lectures is not, according to Major Pciilington, so great as one might havo expected it would be in an agricultural country. At Hanmer, however, where the Department hn.s an instructional farm, finite a few inert havo been attracted to agricultural study. A poultry farm established on the .Cashmere Hills is finite a'.flourishing institution in its way, with 25 men engaged in •learning how to handle poultry profitably. At P.ukeora Military Sanatorium (Waipukiirau) a farm manager has been appointed, and the Department proposes to give instruction in all classes of agriculture there. The Department employs expert agricultural instructors, who travel from one hospital to another de- . livering lectures at each institution. In a number of hospitals bees are kept for instructional purposes. Freedom of Choice. The general rule followed by the Department in its dealings'with _ soldier students was so stated by Major Pcnlington as to show clearly that tlio men are not Hedged about with unnecessary restrictions in their choice of work. "What we try to do," said the Director, "is just to give a man a chance to start on a new .trade or to brush up an old one. Very often we find that when a man lias to learn a new vocation, ho has difficulty in deciding what to take up. In such a case, we let him try various things, and when he is weary of one lie can try another. We let liim spoil material and tools a little in our workshop because it is better for him to do the spoiling there than in the. factory of an employer." The Department pay« the fees of soldier outpatients who arc attending colleges or the university in order to fit themselves for a trade or profession. It is not generally known, perhaps, that ■ fees even for musical tuition are paid. Two Trentham men are at present receiving instruction in piano playing. They take their lessons in the city. Both men propose to adopt music as a means of making a livelihood. In all, 32 men ' in' tho Wellington district are having educational fees paid for them. Some are ' receiving general education, or taking such professional subjects as law, commerce, accountancy, and assaying; vhik others are learning boot repairing, cab-inet-making, carpentry, general engineering, plumbing or wool-classing. Proceeds of Sales. ' Proceeds from the sale of articles manufactured in hospital by soldier patients are now "paid into a soldiers' Recreation fund account. Each hospital . has its own account, which is operated upon by a committee elected by the soldiers. The principal medical officer has the right to veto any expenditure thai • he thinks would be injurious to the men Money remaining after the recreation liabilities for the month have been mel *is divided up among the soldiers. As Captain Galloway phrased it, "A dividend is declared." At Trentham recently, =£110 was divided up among the : men who worked, and at Feathersron. shortly before the hospital was closed down, .£7B 12s. was so divided. At Napiei there is ,£9O in hand, and this is beiiif disbursed. "How do the men fare who are unabli to work?" asked the reporter. "All men who are prevented by phy sical disabilities from contributing tt the fund," replied Captain Galloway "receive a portion. Men who can -wort and will not, receive nothing."