REHABILITATION

Southland Times, Issue 24886, 28 October 1942, Page 6

REHABILITATION

Sir, —Now that men are coming back from the battlefields to take their places once again in civil life the question of rehabilitation is exercising the minds of those interested in their successful reestablishment in a home or business. The statement from Auckland, published in Saturday’s issue of your paper, pointing out the wide difference between what we were led to believe was to be done for these men and what actually is being carried out, is causing concern and can only lead to dissatisfaction and impatience with those responsible for the soldier’s future welfare. It is admitted that our Government established a Rehabilitation Board instead of waiting until the war had ended, as was the case last time. But the mere establishing of this board, without giving the least inkling of its intended policy, or the' manner in which the policy will be pursued, does not necessarily mean that the country’s debt to the returned men will be fully repaid. There was much dissatisfaction with the way this question was handled last time. The returned men of the last war are fully alive to the mistakes made in the administration of that Act, and are going to do their level best to see that their younger contemporaries get all their dues this time. But why, sir, should these men have to beg and demand that all the golden promises be redeemed? At social evenings and send-off parties, and again at welcome home functions, these men are cheered and clapped and called heroes and made promises of an assured and guaranteed future —not by the Rehabilitation Board, but by the people themselves. For this reason alone it is the people’s duty to see that their gratitude for the sacrifices made by members of the armed forces is shown by their interest in the needs of the returned men in the future. No one expects an official board, comprised of well meaning men, to understand fully the personal needs of thousands of our men who will require help to get on their feet again. I think it is necessary that each district put forward a representative conversant with local difficulties likely to affect rehabilitation, and competent to interpret, together with advisers from the Returned Services Association, the views of the people. The people must not allow this matter to drift entirely into the hands of the official board; nor must they sit back and view the spectacle of the men themselves trying to procure satisfaction. I think that an understanding of the personal needs of the individual is necessary in this problem, and this can best be provided by the people themselves. J. P. McLEOD. Balfour, October 26, 1942.