to the foundation of the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service in 1955. Disposal of military equipment The disposal of military equipment and materials was also a key priority after the end of the war. Equipment with civilian uses such as motor vehicles, clothing and housing were urgently needed to counter shortages in the civilian economy. The timing of equipment release had to be carefully planned, however, to avoid harming employment by creating surpluses of manufactured goods. Planning for the disposal of equipment began in 1943 and the Commonwealth Disposals Commission was established to oversee the sale or destruction of equipment on September 1944. Before the commission was established the Government decided that ex-military equipment would be offered to other government agencies before being made available to the public, that sales to the public were to be made on a 'as is, where is' basis and be processed through existing trade channels or public auction at 'fair market prices' and that payment was to be required in cash. Some special priorities were also established; farmers were to be given priority for motor vehicles, machine tools were to be allocated to ex-servicemen and training colleges and special consideration was to be given to the needs of the Red Cross and other overseas and domestic charitable associations. Preparations for the disposal of equipment began in the second half of 1944 when the War Cabinet directed the military to survey all stocks and indicate any surpluses. General Thomas Blamey, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, hindered the preparations as he believed they were premature and that the Army's stocks needed to be maintained until Japan was defeated. That position was opposed by the acting Minister for the Army, and the RAAF and RAN made some attempts to identify their surpluses, but was successful in delaying the Disposal Commission's work until July 1945. As a result, relatively little military equipment was sold between September 1944 and June 1945. After the war ended the Disposals Commission rapidly disposed of large stocks of military equipment. Consumer goods and raw materials which could be used immediately by manufacturers were the first items to be sold and sales of motor vehicles grew rapidly. Ex-military vehicles made an important contribution to meeting transport shortages in rural areas, but there was some dissatisfaction with the priority given to the agricultural sector and the way in which the vehicles were sold. The Disposal Commission's sales