VOCATIONAL TRAINING.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1920, Page 6

VOCATIONAL TRAINING.

GVER 3,000 TRAINEES. GREAT GRIT SHOWN BY DISABLED MEN. I * Some interesting facts and figures in jegard to the vocational training of returned soldiers and some striking instances of the grit and determination to make good in civil life shown by men who were disabled in the great war, were given to a Wellington Times reporter the other day by the two vocational officers at the headquarters of the Repatriation Department, Wellington. "We have," the reporter was told, "over 3000 men in training for one branch of industry or another, or for the professions. A card-index of the men in kept, the whole of the work is subject to periodical inspection by our "after-care" branch, and we can turn up the record card for each man and show how he is going on. It is expected that the activities of this branch willbe increased very shortly. Several specimen "follow-up" cards were exhibited, showing the employer's report to the inspector as to progress made by tho trainee and the trainee's report as to the treatment and the training he was receiving at the hands of his employer. SPECIAL CLASSES.

"We run," stated the vocational officers, "special motor classes in all the four chief centres; and in Auckland, we have in addition, a bootmaking factory, and also a sheet-metal class for teaching the men to make tin dairy utcnßils and so forth. They have a larger number of classes in Auckland than in any other district. We limit the classes approximately to 20 men to each instructor, in addition that 'the instructors may be able to give the men the necessary individual attention to bring them along quickly and satisfactorily . The men get some "four months' tuition in these classes and are then drafted out into the workshops, etc. During the period of training, sustenance is paid on the following scale, in addition to whatever pension the trainee may be receiving:— Single men, £2 10s a week; married men £3 a week, with an extra weekly allowance of 3s 6d for each child lip to the number of four. Tho same sustenance is payable to men attending ordinary technical classes if their hours are 30 or more per week. And when the men have been drafted out into the workshops, etc.. the department continues to subsidise them to make their wages up to £3 a week, irrespective, of pension, until they get that amount from their employers. No deduction is made in any ease, whether that of a subsidised worker or an apprentice, on account of pension. They get the full wage in addition to the pensttti. We find that these men get far bigger pay after having had the four months' tuition than they would get if we placed ihem straight "uvay with their emplovers. FARM TRAINING.

The Ruakura State Farm is retained solely for the disabled soldiers who are taught fruit and poultry fanning. The Wercroa farm is retained for fit men, and there tbey are taught dairy farming and general agriculture' work. Tauherenikau again, is kept solely for the tubercular men, who are trained in pig ,and poultry farming principally, and "general light farming work. Then there is the Avonhcad Settlement, in Christchurch, where a number of badly disabled men have hen placed on sections of their own, and the Department has an instructional farm in connection with the settlement. In Central Otago, near Roxburgh, we have the Moa seed farm. This farm is in a locality of which the fertility has been well proved during many years. The scope for this kind of enterprise is seen in the fact that until the war checked the trade New Zealand imported seeds to the value of nearly £330,000 a year. Thus seed-raising, which affords light, pleasant, healthful work for some returned [soldiers whose physique has been injured by the war, should be a very beneficial industry for the whole of New Zealand. Another small training farm at Motuihi Island has just been started.

COACHING FOR PUBLIC SERVICE. "We are running classes in Wellington for coaching returned soldiers to pass the Public Service entrance examination; and similar classes will be started in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, when the technical colleges re-open. In addition to this, for any soldiers resident in the backblocks, opportunities for tuition by correspondence has been arranged. Approximately, some 200 men have already intimated their desire to take these correspondence classes. "In Christchurch we have just started a boot-repairing shop for badly disabled soldiers who arc unable to do a lot of standing, and they will be given thorough tuition there. At Knox College, Dunedin, we are subsidising ex-soldicr students who intend to become lawyers, doctors, clergymen, and so on. There is quite a number of them. We have now over 3000 trainees. The number of men in training has shown a steady increase right through the past twelve months, and it is expected that this increase will continue for some little time.

500 HAVE FINISHED TRAINING. "Approximately 500 men have finished their training and are receiving full remuneration in their different callings. We have some 200 men in training throughout the Dominion for various professions—dentists, surveyors, schoolteachers, lawyers, doctors, ministers of the gospel, etc. Every case of an apprentice or a subsidised worker will be inspected, to ascertain whether the men are getting fair treatment, and whether they are giving satisfaction. Practically the whole of the South Island has been inspected in this way, and the North Island is now about to be inspected. The number of unsatisfactory cases is well under 5 per cent.

MEN WHO HAVE MADE GOOD. • "There is one ease of a motor mechanic who was a farmer prior to enlistment, but wasi badly wounded. He has had twelve months' training and his employer kept him at the expiration of the twelve months at a wage of £-i per week. He expects in the course of another month or so to be giving the man the full award wages. Again, a man trained in Wellington received three or four months instruction at special engineering classes', was given a position by one. of the leading firms in the city, the Department subsidising him for a few weeks. At the end of that t'ilme his employers paid him £3 10s a week, and he will be receiving a further rise in the course of a month or so. These are only two typical cases out of very many. There were special classes for shearers at the Chcistehurch Technical College, the Department paying part of the fees for the men and sub*W*iftiJAt» tor Jto tote « Aw

weeks' course. At the end of that time the men were able to take jobs as shearers. A one-armed man in Wellington its making good as a French polisher. We also have one at Christchurch in the same work. His employer considers that this is one of the finest possible occupations for disabled men. A number of disabled men, again, are making fancy leather bags at Weston Bros.' factory, Christchurch, and are doing very well. Over 250 men are beting trained in farming of one sort and another throughout the country, and we could, if the men were available, train and place a great many more- We have a case of a disabled carpenter who is now doing well as a school-teacher. Another man, fairly badly disabled, was placed to learn upholstery work, and is now receiving full wages after twelve months' training. Still another man was placed to learn leather bag making, and he also was taken on at full wages at the expiration of his twelve months' training. These are subsidised workers. Of course the Department subsidises apprentices till they are out of their time; but most of the employers are paying the men rather more than the .award rate; some as much as a pound a week more. All the instructors are practical tradesmen. For example, the man in charge of the sheet-metal classes at Auckland has had thirty odd years at the trade, and has taken the highest theoretical examinations in the line at Home." A number of the cases mentioned above are given in greater detail, together with a wealth of other interesting facts 1 and figures in a very well-got-up and very copiously illustrated book, "Winning Through from War to Peace," edited by Mr. L. S. Fanning, and pubI lished by the Repatriation Department.