REPATRIATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1919, Page 7

REPATRIATION.

THE WORK IN OTAGO. EMPLOYMENT SATISFACTORY. Wellington, Last Night. The repatriation scheme is working in a very smooth manner in Otago District, the report from the District Board covering the operations lor July indicating that in spite of the adverse industrial conditions due to the railway curtailment, there is practically no unemployment a,mong returned soldiers, while the various features of the Repatriation Board's work are all showing good results. Sustenance is given to unemployed soldiers, but the Otago Board reports that a very few applications have been received, and as casual work is fairly plentiful, it does not anticipate any further payments for some time- The total expenditure under this head during the Board's existence is only £3O. Notwithstanding the Bet'back due to the railway restrictions, cmploviuent has been plentiful, due to the Central Battery requiring recruits, and to the fact that the shipping position is niuen orighter, and that a big engineering contract at Port Chalmers has commenced, which will absorb quite a number of men. Applications for farm labor are also plentiful. The number of men placed in posi- | tions during the uonth was 223.

The District Board and its local committees expended £4490 during ■ the month, to assist soldiers in setting up in business. So far, it has had only one experience of failure on the part of an assisted soldier, and in this case the amount involved was small. "The other businesses, with possibly one excepuon," states the report, are all in a flourishing condition, and a very satisfactory feature is that all applicants are paying their instalments on due dates. "The financial statement shows that during the period covered, £BG6 was repaid on account of advances. There Is not much required to purchase tools of trade, but the Board has a statement showing the cost of outfits in the different; trades, and its arrangements are on a satisfactory basis, the repayments being regular.

Apprenticeship has been dealt with in a systematic way by the Board. It called meetings of the various trades, with the result that it is able to ii.-ve ihe satisfactory assurance that in almost every instance, returned soldier apprentices are on a much better footing than that required by their legal obligations, with the result that there has been some saving of State subsidy. The question of the terms of reinstatement of law students is being considered in the hope that there position will be improved. Another phase of repatriation, that of giving soldiers training in workshops, w going on well in Otago, over 300 men being in training. The report states that the new regulations on this subject, together with,that fact that the trades unions are directly represented on the Employment Committee, has resulted in a better understanding between employer, employee and the Repatriation Department.

The large number of applications for university education has given the Otago Board a good deal of concern Most of the students are medical or divinity. As the divinity students in pre-war times were in the habit of eßrning enough by casual preaching and work in the vacation to pay their expenses, assistance for six months is expected to igive them an opportunity to »et on a pre-war footing. As regards medical students, the University, states the report, is greatly overcrowded, and there will be some difficulty on the part of many students to gain sufficient instruction to pass their examinations. It is the intention of the Board to obtain a report from the Dean of the Faculty on each case at the end of the present term, and carefully scrutinise each case with a view to ascertaining whether further assistance is advisable.

The classes lately established At the technical schools are being well attended, and the Director reports that the soldier students are showing aptitude. As for the future, the Otago Board's hopeful opinion is thus expressed: "With the limited number of men now due to return, we do not consider that the position as regards employment will become acute in this district."