RETURNING MEN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 July 1943, Page 3

RETURNING MEN

WHAT IS BEING DONE PROCEDURE OUTLINED. PAY, ALLOWANCES & OTHER PRIVILEGES. In view of allegations made locally regarding rehabilitation, Mr J. Robertson, chairman of the Masterton Rehabilitation Committee, states that perhaps the public is not aware of exactly what is done for returned service men. He has therefore outlined the procedure now adopted to deal with men returning from overseas.

Mr Robertson pointed out that the men returning to New Zealand today were mostly those coming back for three reasons —for further duty in New Zealand, to convalesce from illness and wounds or to be discharged on account of medical unlitness. On disembarkation they were taken to a clearing hospital and met by representatives of the Government and State departments. Those who returned for duty were granted leave on full pay extending from seven to 28 days, according to the importance of the position they had returned to take up. The medical superintendent of the clearing hospital saw that each man’s military record contained particulars of any illness or wounds he had suffered while overseas. Every man was X-rayed, given a dental examination and was medically boarded by two doctors. ARMY POSTING COMMITTEE. Following this examination, said Mr Robertson, the man’s report and other papers were referred to an army posting committee which examined the documents and decided as to the man’s disposal. The service man was informed on the spot as to what was going to happen to him, whether he was likely to be an in-patient or an out-patient of a hospital and whether he was likely to be in hospital for a long time or not. Those who were not to have hospital treatment were informed whether they would be immediately discharged or whether they would be passed over to the Rehabilitation Board for consideration at its hands. Provision was also made for officers of other departments to be present. An officer of the Land and Income Tax Department, for instance, was there to re-register the service man for Social Security purposes and issue him his coupon books, etc. A liaison officer of the War Pensions Department was also there to help the returned service man to complete his pension claim. He explained to the service man his rights and privileges under the Act. PRIVILEGES AVAILABLE. An Army officer detailed to look after the sick and wounded from each centre of the Dominion met the sick and wounded at the clearing hospital, Mr Robertson continued. It was his duty, to see that every service man returning home got adequate care, transport and accommodation. Men who were unable to travel alone because of sickness or wounds were accompanied to their homes by a non-commissioned officer. All members of the service who received either in-ptient or outpatient treatment were kept on full Army rates of pay. All members who had served overseas were entitled to 28 days’ leave on full pay and allowances with free travelling warrants on the train services from one end of the country to the other. Those privileges became available on them discharge. If a medical board certified a man unfit for further military service his Army pay and allowances continued until the case had been dealt with by the Rehabilitation Board or the War Pensions Department. In an endeavour to fill up any gaps, the Government had provided rehabilitation allowances for 13 weeks, providing the man’s pension or pensionable disability had not been determined at an earlier date. ALLOWANCES & PENSIONS. Mr Robertson said that with that 13 weeks, plus the 28 days’ privilege leave, the Rehabilitation Board or the War Pensions Board, had four months to determine whether the man was to be rehabilitated or go on to a pension. If the pension was subsequently higher than the rehabilitation allowance had been, the difference was made up to the man when the amount of the pension was defined. The rehabilitation allowance for a single man was £3 10s; for a married man £4 10s; for a man with a wife and one child £4 16s; two children, £5 2s; three children, £5 Bs, and four children. £5 14s, with a maximum rehabilitation allowance of £6 a week. Those allowances were free of taxation. NUMBER DEMOBILISED. The number of service men and women, demobilised as at March 31, 1943, said Mr Robertson, totalled 19,294,

classified as follow: Not yet discharged, on leave, in hospital, recuperating, etc., 5,808; intentions undecided, 397; undergoing full-time training, 156; placed in employment or returned to old employer, 10,591; returned to or acquired own business or farm, 994; depending on private means, 74; refused all help or unable to trace, 1044; enrolled for placement, 146; left New Zealand, 34; deceased, 50. Particulars of the loans granted up to March 31, 1943, were: On farms, 53, value £128,060; to erect houses, 19, £22,845; to buy houses, 173, £163,055; to buy tools of trade, 36, £324; to buy furniture, 577, £48.794; to buy business, 42, £13,610; total, 900, £377,188. “The best system drawn up,” said Mr Robertson, “may sometimes fail because the human element comes in and occasionally an officer may for some cause or another, fail in his particular function. Grievances may arise, but these are usually remedied immediately attention is drawn to them.”