H.—lB

APPENDICES

APPENDIX I.—THE INTERPRETATION OF ELIGIBILITY AND PRIORITY FOR REHABILITATION ASSISTANCE (i) The body of the report is, in the main, an account of the various needs of ex-servicemen and the steps taken, to meet them. Detailed information about the extent of assistance afforded in each field is contained in the report and in the statistical tables which make up Appendix 11. It remains to make some explanation of the principles by which the Board has been guided in dispensing the various forms of assistance. In short, while the report has told what assistance has been given, it is still necessary to answer the question, " Who can qualify for what under the Rehabilitation Scheme ? " This Appendix seeks to answer this question. (ii) The Rehabilitation Act.—After defining ex-servicemen in such a way as to include any who has served with His Majesty's Forces either in New Zealand or overseas, or has served in the Mercantile Marine other than on a purely coastal vessel, the Act empowers the Board to provide in any ways it deems necessary for the civil re-establishment of ex-servicemen or their widows and any dependants. Specifically the Act empowers the Board to acquire property for disposal to ex-servicemen ; to extend financial assistance to ex-servicemen ; and to provide for the training, placement in employment, and after-care of ex-serviceinen. Neither in the Act nor in any subsequent Order in Council gazetted under it is the Board instructed to have regard to defined principles in making assistance available, and no doubt the Government in framing the legislation recognized the impossibility at that stage of adequately and equitably providing for all cases by means of rule-of-thumb principles. (iii) In this situation the Board has from time to time found it desirable to vary the emphasis on the different considerations which it has had to take into account in deciding what has been necessary to assist the civil re-establishment of ex-servicemen or their widows and dependants. Nevertheless, as policy in each of the fields of assistance has crystallized, and. as administrative procedure has in consequence developed, it has become possible to establish certain general principles in the light of which eligibility for assistance of various kinds, the extent of such assistance, and the priorities to be recognized as between different classes of ex-servicemen can be uniformly, and the Board thinks, equitably determined. These principles, as an interdependent whole, provide a general answer to the question of who is entitled to what. (iv) The Policy in Operation. —All servicemen, irrespective of zone or duration of service, are entitled to assistance to enable them to return to civil life on terms at least equal to those enjoyed prior to their entering the Forces. This is the basic responsibility in rehabilitation as defined in the preface to this report. (v) There is also, as mentioned in the preface, a second responsibility. This is to carry out the Government's intention to reward to the fullest possible extent the meritorious service of the men and women who have served in the Forces—correlating merit with known or presumed hazard or with duration and zone of service. (v:i) As a matter of basic responsibility the first must be given immediate fulfilment. In discharging the second, owing to the large number of men involved and the present shortage of man-power and material resources available to meet civilian needs, it had been found necessary to defer the claims of some ex-servicemen. The extension of financial assistance to all ex-servicemen at this stage would result in the limited supplies now available being exhausted and make conditions even more difficult for the rehabilitation of those men who are still to return from overseas and who will be amongst those having first claim to assistance. (vii) The following schedule of priorities and assistance available has been adopted in respect of Army personnel who have been discharged from the Forces or whose National Service commitments are not inconsistent with the assistance sought:— (a) Eligible for immediate assistance for house, farm, and business loans and allocation of State rental dwellings : all men who have actually seen front-line service or have served outside New Zealand for six months or over in any of the following areas: — (1) European Zone : (2) Middle East: (3) East Asia : (4) Pacific Area, including New Caledonia and the area forward from that base. (b) Eligible now for house, and farm loans in the case of A Grade farmers, and for business loans which will at the same time cater for their housing needs : men who have served in the Pacific other than in the area referred to above, Canada, America, or other noncombatant areas who married before leaving New Zealand or while overseas and have seen twelve months' service or more outside New Zealand. (viii) This classification refers to Army personnel, but the eligibility of members of the other Services, including the Mercantile Marine, is determined similarly. In assessing the claims of Air Force personnel, however, the hazardous nature of the work done by flying personnel is recognized and all air-crew personnel who have been engaged on operational or test flying either in New Zealand or overseas are eligible for immediate assistance on discharge. Pilots engaged as instructors are regarded similarly. (ix) The restrictions discussed, in so far as they apply to returned men, are confined to farming, business, and housing loans, and do not extend to other assistance the scope of which is not necessarily confined by limitations dictated by present conditions. For example, in the fields of trade, &c., training and education where the means of assistance are much less restricted the practice has been, and continues to be, to extend facilities applied for to any ex-serviceman whose service has involved a comparatively serious break in his civilian plans, and who gives evidence of his capacity to benefit from the assistance in question.

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