Just a Reminder

[Brian d marge]

I dont want to put this in ACC area , as I wanted it to reach the people who don't frequent said place

Have a read , and remember ACC was set up to help some young lads who stepped up to the plate a few years back.

Three hours ago he blundered up the trench,
Sliding and poising, groping with his boots;
Sometimes he tripped and lurched against the walls
With hands that pawed the sodden bags of chalk.
He couldn't see the man who walked in front;
Only he heard the drum and rattle of feet
Stepping along barred trench boards, often splashing
Wretchedly where the sludge was ankle-deep.

Voices would grunt `Keep to your right -- make way!'
When squeezing past some men from the front-line:
White faces peered, puffing a point of red;
Candles and braziers glinted through the chinks
And curtain-flaps of dug-outs; then the gloom
Swallowed his sense of sight; he stooped and swore
Because a sagging wire had caught his neck.

A flare went up; the shining whiteness spread
And flickered upward, showing nimble rats
And mounds of glimmering sand-bags, bleached with rain;
Then the slow silver moment died in dark.
The wind came posting by with chilly gusts
And buffeting at the corners, piping thin.
And dreary through the crannies; rifle-shots
Would split and crack and sing along the night,
And shells came calmly through the drizzling air
To burst with hollow bang below the hill.

Three hours ago, he stumbled up the trench;
Now he will never walk that road again:
He must be carried back, a jolting lump
Beyond all needs of tenderness and care.

He was a young man with a meagre wife
And two small children in a Midland town,
He showed their photographs to all his mates,
And they considered him a decent chap
Who did his work and hadn't much to say,
And always laughed at other people's jokes
Because he hadn't any of his own.

That night when he was busy at his job
Of piling bags along the parapet,
He thought how slow time went, stamping his feet
And blowing on his fingers, pinched with cold.
He thought of getting back by half-past twelve,
And tot of rum to send him warm to sleep
In draughty dug-out frowsty with the fumes
Of coke, and full of snoring weary men.

He pushed another bag along the top,
Craning his body outward; then a flare
Gave one white glimpse of No Man's Land and wire;
And as he dropped his head the instant split
His startled life with lead, and all went out.
Stephen

[YellowDog]

If you really wanted it to be read you would have chosen a 'legiable on black' text colour!

[Brian d marge]

If you really wanted it to be read you would have chosen a 'legiable on black' text colour!

This legiable is a new word .

Stephen

[pzkpfw]

ACC was set up for folk hurt in military events?


(I thought it was more just an accidents among the population thing.)

[Brian d marge]

yes
Snip

from blood on the coal by Hazel Armstrong

The second event which forged New Zealand’s present
workers’ compensation system was the experience of soldiers
Wounded soldiers being
returning from World War One. During that war 45% of
evacuated from Gallipoli.

New Zealand men of military age served in the armed forces
and nearly 17,000 were killed. The survivors returned to
find little preparation for their rehabilitation. Housing and
satisfactory employment were difficult to obtain, and war
pensions for disabled veterans, widows and orphans were well
below the basic wage.
The need to re-integrate injured ex-servicemen into
the workforce sparked the introduction of vocational
rehabilitation and retraining. In 1931 the Disabled Servicemen’s Re-establishment League was formed, funded initially by armed services’ charities and later by the RSA and the government. The League encouraged employers to take on disabled servicemen, to carry out vocational training and, if required, to top up their earnings. WW2, it also provided sheltered employment and training to injured veterans with a level of disability 40% or higher


I know they are all gone know but there are others who have taken their place.

Stephen

[YellowDog]

This legiable is a new word .

Stephen

Thanks for changing the text colour. A good read!

There are many new words added to the English language every year but I don't see 'legiable' as being a 2010 contender. Just a typo.

[Ixion]

To avoid confusion - The Workman's Compensation Scheme, (which is what is referred to by Ms Armstrong) was the predecessor to ACC.

It was an insurance based scheme, whereby employers were required to have compulsory third party insurance to cover themselves against claims by injured workers. The liability standard for the employer was high, though not one of strict liability.

Although a big step forward in the twenties (in the 19C, if you got mangled at work, tough, your problem) , by the 60s the faults of the WCS had become unacceptable - mainly the fact that the scheme had become litigious, with injured workers having to hire lawyers and accept long delays before receiving compensation. And the fact that the WCS did not cover injury outside the workplace (though motor vehicle accidents were separately insured against ).

The result of the dissatisfaction with the WCS was the Woodhouse Report. And, ACC.

So yes, ACC does ultimately derive from the demand by returning WWI soldiers , that their struggles and sacrifices should be rewarded by a better,fairer, more caring and more decent country.

Fairier, more caring, more decent. Not a bad paradigm, still today. Lets hope we don't turn our backs on it.

[Brian d marge]

Thanks for changing the text colour. A good read!

.

there was some HTML attached and changed the color , looked ok my end ,,,
There were a lot of other poems

the thing that got me was the fact I could see myself in that poem
I have two kids and a wife in a small apartment

Stephen

[Brian d marge]

To avoid confusion - The Workman's Compensation Scheme, (which is what is referred to by Ms Armstrong) was the predecessor to ACC.

It was an insurance based scheme, whereby employers were required to have compulsory third party insurance to cover themselves against claims by injured workers. The liability standard for the employer was high, though not one of strict liability.

Although a big step forward in the twenties (in the 19C, if you got mangled at work, tough, your problem) , by the 60s the faults of the WCS had become unacceptable - mainly the fact that the scheme had become litigious, with injured workers having to hire lawyers and accept long delays before receiving compensation. And the fact that the WCS did not cover injury outside the workplace (though motor vehicle accidents were separately insured against ).

The result of the dissatisfaction with the WCS was the Woodhouse Report. And, ACC.

So yes, ACC does ultimately derive from the demand by returning WWI soldiers , that there struggles and sacrifices should be rewarded by a better,fairer, more caring and more decent country.

Fairier, more caring, more decent. Not a bad paradigm, still today. Lets hope we don't turn our backs on it.

I will be ashamed if we lose it ...

Stephen

( thanks for the clarification , I wanted to keep it as simple as possible )