Homeservicemen and Rehabilitation Aid

Grey River Argus, 5 April 1948, Page 2

Homeservicemen and Rehabilitation Aid

Any ex-home serviceman suffering from substantial and permanent pensionable disability had always been favourabl vconsidered for any suitable type of rehabilitation assistance, said the Directn- of Rehabilitation, FZTr F. Baker, at the monthly meeting of the Rehabilitation Board. It was veryunlikely that a reasonable application from such a home-servicemen would be turned down. Reference had. been made by the Minister of Rehabilitation, the Hon. C. F. Skinner, to a. deputation from the New Zealand Home Servicemen’s '..-..■/.jcicitioTi which hud suggested thai home servicemen with permanent disabilities should not be subject, to the priorities system when seeking hous‘.iu assistance. He had assured the deputation that such men would receive very’ favourable consideration uh- any type ot aid He hid also explained that any home-service-man could apply for training at the Board’s building trade_ centres. ‘“I have been very’ much impressed by the reasonable attitude the Home Servicemen’s Association has adopted right through, ~ said Mr Skinner. “Their attitude has Deen very helpful.”

Home servicemen are at present eligible on the basis o' service alone for loan assistance to purchase tools of trade and furniture (twelve months’ service), and housing loans (four years' service, or three years including a period overseas). They are also immediately eligible for career training and warranted educational assistance. The Board recently decided the time had not yet arrived when extension to home servicemen of eligibility for business loans should he made on service grounds. Similarly, the board, at a recent ’meeting, decided that, because of tne large number of eligible ex-service-men still awaiting settlement on farms of their own, further consideration of extending to homoservicemen immediate eligibility for farm settlement aid should be deferred until 1939, when the position w’ili again be reviewed. Representations had been made to the Director of Rehabilitation during an official visit to Kaihaia in November last, that the position of the discharged homeservicemen should be eviewed regarding farm seltlemeni aid. The director had promised the rehabilitation committee which had raised the matter that lie would bring to the boards’ notice the question of eligibility for farming assistance of homeservicemen whose normal occupation had been farming who who had done reasonable service.

Statistics before the board showed that, under the present eligibility system about 4500 men had been settled on farms by the end of November (4591 at the end of Januarywith a further 5500 awaiting settlement. Figures taken out at the end of June last had disclosed that 99? homeservicemen had returned tc farm work. It was possible that on a basis of homeservicemen who had done four years’ service, there wouif be from 1300 to 1400 potential applicants for farm settlement assistance, and from 400 to 500 1 on a basis of five years’ service. In view of all those factors, particularly the need to attend to the 5500 men who were immediately eligible, graded A and awaiting their farms, the board decided to defer the question of considering homeservicemen for farm settlement on service grounds alone until the end of February next year. Apart from service grounds, homeservicemen can be considered for all forms of rehabilitation assistance on the grounds of reinstatement in something given up to enter The forces Or actually lost as a direct result of service. .