REHABILIATION COMMISSION

Hokitika Guardian, 9 May 1930, Page 5

REHABILIATION COMMISSION

THE REPORT ISSUED'

SERIES OF RECOMMENDATION.

(By Telegraph—Press Association).

I WELLINGTON, 9. The report by the ex-3ol'dlers’ Rehabilitation Commission has been isj sued. It covers 26 printed pages. . °ue hundred and sixty-six witnesses > were examined. The Committee makes < | the .following recommendations, for all of which legislation will be necessary. (0 The reduction of the age for die eligibiliy for old age pensions of South African war veterans. (~) : Ihe reduction of age for --eligibility for old-age pensions of -£x’sokliers. , . *'vp » (3) Ihe abolition of the time, limit as an element in the qualification of , certain wives as ‘‘Defendants” and the right of appeal for a- wife whose application ; for a pension as a dependant is refused. (4) —The abolition of the time limit as an element in the qualification of certain widows as dependants, and tiie ; lepeal of ,the, proviso' that certaijti widows shall [receive .a gratuity ■ instead of pensions. : - v.' ■*" . o / (%} —The abolition of the time limit of 7. years in which-“probability” may be invoked as evidence of “attributa-"' bility.” (6) The formation and incorporn- » tion of a Soldiers’ Civil Re-establish-ment League. . (7) -Discretionary power in the Minister to allow war pensions to certain New Zealaud soldiers, who served with other British forces, and the extension of the benefits to the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act and Repatriation Act in certain cases to British ex-soldiers other than New Zealanders. Six questions .were submitted to the Commission, Replying to ■ the first question, what was present c-ondi- ; tion and circumstances of persons affected in their approximate number! and the nature, of their the Commission state, the average age’ is probably between 38 and 45. Some ( are as old as 70 and many understated their ages when joining up with.' \ the forces and the war experience .had an unsettling tendency and particular-v ly bad effect. When it was sought torepatriate them they never found a] place in the economic industrid! mach- ; ine, but have drifted from casual' work to casual work and it is only l now, when approaching the average' age mentioned above, that the deepest anxiety Tind despair is being felt, and the prospects for the future, not only for themselves but ‘for their* wives and children. X i This anxiety and despair is break-. ing the nerves of men and so deter-1 iorating the material which it is de- \ sirable that we should endeavour tq 5 rehabilitate. v 'j In general terms their circumstance? M may he described as: (1) “Bread and :, butter” line. Their number is about 5000 and disabilities generally are due to war woilnds and impaired healtn due to. war services,In reply to question 2, 1 as -to _ the (adequacy of pensions, no recommendation is made to increase the pensions to veterans of the Maori War. South African veterans now number about four thousand. The Commission does not recommend the request of the South African Veteran Association tnat a. service pension of. £SO per annum he paid to all such veterans ir-j, respective to their health or financial, standing and purely as a reward for services in South Africa, and of a sim-,. ilar pension to all such veterans on at- , taining the. agei-of 65 years, but dot recommend a> reduction of age fort eligiblity old-age pensions in the case of such veterans from 65 to 60 years. Classes of cases arising out of the Grent War are discussed in consider-* able details. For such cases the ma-; jor recommendation of the Commission embraces the formation of a Soldiers’ Civil Re-establishment League, and that the administration of an . Economic Pensions Scheme be worked in conjunction with this League. This League with its branches in every centre will know men who are subjects of the present problem and will have employment and rehabilitation officers* in touch with them, and with the exe- > cutiye of the League. As to those men in class of 50 per cent, disability or over. The League’s officers with full knowledge of individual men will report. “These men art unemployable and they are quite unable to support themselves. We re- * commend them for a" full economic pen-

sion.” ' As to the others their cases as po-» tential pensioners will' be considered hv the League in conjunction with its efforts to find work. The League’s Committees will have a knowledge of all these men. They will know their capabilities, they will know the work they are fitted for and the work they are doing. They will therefore he, able not only to take into account the economic factors in the lives of these men, hut largely to govern and. control these factors, and policy will be to reduce the need for a pen- \ sion by increasing the economic and earning factors in each man’s life. We recommend that as a general principle the finding and recommendation of an appropriate committee of me League should fix a man’s right to the economic pension.