36 



J. NANGLE. 



professional training. All the returned men approved for 

 professional trainiag had their fees paid and were granted 

 sustenance at the rate of £2 2s. per week for single men. 

 Those who had married received an extra allowance. The 

 first year's fees and sustenance were a gift, but anything 

 paid out by the Department beyond this was granted as a 

 loan to be re-paid by the trainee within a reasonable period 

 after qualifying for his profession. As already stated, the 

 men within this class were required to have satisfied 

 entrance qualifications if desiring to proceed to a university 

 or technical college, or if to articled pupilage, to possess 

 the necessary preparatory education. No attempt was 

 made to shorten the period of undergraduateship required 

 by the universities and higher technical colleges, nor would 

 it have been wise to have attempted to do so. These 

 courses of training were well established and available, 

 and it was merely a matter of taking care that the men 

 sent to them were sufficiently well prepared, and to secure 

 that they attended properly to the courses for which 

 they were approved. 



The question of carrying out successfully training for the 

 different trades presented unique difficulties. The men to 

 be trained were nearly all adults. The industrial laws of 

 the States required that all adult workers at trades should 

 be paid the minimum wage required by the awards. Since 

 it was fully recognised that the men could not be trained 

 up to the standard of fully competent tradesmen in the 

 technical schools, some way of meeting the wage conditions 

 had to be discovered. The method of overcoming the 

 difficulty was devised during the deliberations of the first 

 Industrial Conference called by the Repatriation Depart- 

 ment. This conference has already been referred to as 

 one of the two called at the inception of the work of the 

 Department. After discussing the matter from every point 

 of view, it was finally decided to recommend that the Depart- 



