REHABILITATION COMMISSION

Hokitika Guardian, 15 November 1929, Page 3

REHABILITATION COMMISSION

DISABLED SOLDIERS. EVIDENCE HEAR„ AT AUCKLAND. AUCKLAND, Nov. 13. The Returned Soldiers’ Relmbilita- . tion Commission continued its sittings j to-day. Major D. E.. G. Cardale supported the claim that South African veterans should be placed on the same footing as those of the Great War in regard to pensions and training. Dr W. N. Abbott expressed the belief that neurasthenic cases should be dealt with by permitting work at un-der-rate- tvages, with Government subsidy of the balance. A nerve hospital, such as that at Hanmer, should be established in Auckland province, as Hanmer was too far away. Subsidised under-rate work out of doors should l>e provided for pulmonary tuberculosis eases. In more severe cases the solution was 100 per cent, pension. There should be a sanatorium in the Waitekere ranges, run in conjunction with the Auckland Hospital Board. For the aged, the debilitated and those unable to work, there should be some sort of institution, such as the Epsom Infirmary, with a special subsidy until sufficient cases were collected for veterans’ homes. Dr W. C. M’Caw suggested that certain classes of cases would be benefited mentally and physically by an alteration of the present method of administering pensions, without disorganising to any great extent the systems now in use. He made suggestions similar to those of Dr Abbott. Mr W. E. Ca.vley-Alexander. deputypresident of the Te Kuiti Returned Soldiers’ Association, criticising the operations of, the Land Revaluation Committee, said that the wiping out bf a large proportion of liabilities was of no actual benefit to soldier farmers, as they were not thus enabled to purchase seed and manure. In many cases £oo or £IOO would have got these men out of their trouble, and the Government would have been saved thousands of pounds. No distinction was made between triers and non-triers. Mr George Finn, president of the Auckland Maufacturers’ Association, speaking regarding factory work generally, said it would be detrimental to efficiency if .special consideration had to be shown to individual members on account of their physical unfitness or inability to keep pace with their fellow workers. There were, however, positions in most works where men could be employed as messengers or at

other light work if licensed as underrate workers. Replying to the chairman (Mr J. S. Barton, S.M.) Mr Finn said that, if the work of the commission should result in a scheme accepted by the Government as sound, and placed in thehands of competent men to administer, he thought he could pledge his association and its members to give continuous, sympathetic support. In reply to Captain E. H. Sharp, he said he was in favour of the underrate system, but was doubtful of its ultimate success. Ml- A. L. Nugent, representing a nil' interested in the provision of appliances for disatried soldiers, and himself one of those men, outlined occupations which could advantageously be made for the absorption of disabled and otherwise unfit returned men. The principal ones were-goat-farming and artificial limb manufacturing by a co-operative association. One advantage claimed for this was the greater satisfaction of individual requirements in artificial'limbs and appliances. Replying to tbc chairman, Mr Nugent said that it was the practice of the Government in the majority of cases to insist on a certain type of limb, irrespective of the wishes of the man who was to use it. The chairman said the suggestion for artificial limb manufacturing deserved careful consideration. He questioned the wisdom of the suggestion for co-operative financing of the scheme. Mr Thomas Selwyn Miller gave evidence as to his personal experience of different types of artificial limb. Regarding.this as a. typical case, the commission decided to have a demonstration of the use of limbs at a later period.