WORK FOR EX-SOLDIERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 819, 13 November 1929, Page 11

WORK FOR EX-SOLDIERS

“COULD RELIEVE POLICE OF CIVIL DUTIES” PROPOSAL TO COMMISSION A suggestion that war veterans n be used in place of police con- I stables for work such as involved V in the registration of arms and :ji on inquiries in regard to new pen- k sions or economic pens ons. was ( «. made to the Returned Soldiers’ n Rehabilitation Commission by |s Major D. E. Cardale this morn- f< ing. Th.: commission, w hich < onsists or li Mr. J. S. Barton. of Wellington! 11 (chairman i. .Sir John I.ukc ( Wt-Uinp- 11 ton), and Mr. S. J. Harrison, general •• cri tary of the New Zealand Be- a turned Soldiers’ Association, opened its Auckland sitting yesterday. | 11 In the latter part of yesterday after- j noon, Captain K. H. Sharp, secretary! ' of the Auckland Returned Soldiers’! 1 Association. Colonel C. T. Major and i I! Mr. F. H. Rurbush. who was repat-I c riatiou otticer at Auckland from 1010 | 1 to 1D22, gave evidence in support of ; the suggestions made by the commit-: t e sei up by the Returned Sold ; ers' Association. ! c Referring to a case of individual! I. hardship reported by Major Halpin, j who is appearing for the South African 1 J War veterans, the chairman said j the commission could not. deal with i j isolated cases of individual hardship. Principles were all that they could ; c deal with, and the acceptance of those! would probably result in the relief of ( many isolated rases. Only where ! isolated cases raised or had hearing ! jon a principle could they he consid- J r ered. The principle that South African c \\ ar veterans be placed on the same a basis as veterans of the Maori War I had been affirmed and would be f passed on. t Major I). E. C. Cardale also referred to the lot of the South African r veterans, many of whom, he said, were ' ( now in want .He suggested that some C of the work done by the police, such as the registration of arms, could be done by these men. They could also a be profitably employed as inspectors, v and in other civic and Government e capacities. He said the average age v of the South African men was now about 51. As most, of them were * enrolled principally from farming 1 communities he considered that many 11 of them would give results if placed , on farmlets. c ARTIFICIAL LIMBS t t Archibald Henry Nugent, manager j t of the Zenith Artificial Limb Co., and 1 t a disabled soldier, referred to the practice adopted in Germany, where i 1 employees were compelled to employ ! i one seriously disabled man for every ' - 50 men employed. He also entered 1 a protest against the regulations j I covering the purchase of artificial limbs. Previously the amputees were t allowed to make their own choice, i but now this was not permitted. He r considered that a disabled man. from 2 his own experience, was in a better i postion to know whia suited his re- ' quirements. % t That the RepatriaVon Committee had not carried Us work far enough 1 was i In* contention* submitted by j a Thomas Selwyn MWler, treasurer of F tin* Auckland brandli of the Returned : 1 Soldiers' Associat/m. Tie said a i grounding was given in various trades ( ‘ and work, but the training was not L sufficient to enable the men to com- F pete with others. The witness also 1' referred to the unsatisfactory treat- 1< ment he had experienced at the hands t of the Government department re- i sponsible for the issue of artificial L limbs. Recently he had been issued b with a limb, but it was so unsatis- c factory that he had had to secure b another limb from a private firm. s Dr. W. N. Abbott subscribed to the n opinion expressed by previous witnesses that any grounds for worry such as economic responsibility and fear of unemployment mu-st seriously j retard the progress of men suffering 1 from breakdown or shock. He was also of opinion that whether breakdowns in returned men’s health were mental or physical, the relief granted to relatives should be the same. a ; Dio present time this was not so. For j neurasthenic cases he considered j i that, a nerve hospital should be estab- ! » lished in the Auckland province, as Ilanmer was too far away. The men should also be given underrate . ( workers' permits, with a Government N subsidy of their balance of wages, j The witness also suggested that for l c ,mes of pulmonary tuberculosis a l sanitorium should l»e provided m the « Waitakcre Ranges, to be run m t on- , junction t\itl> the Auckland Hospital Board. °