R.N.Z.A.F. OFFICERS’ CLOTHING ALLOWANCE

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24898, 11 June 1946, Page 2

R.N.Z.A.F. OFFICERS’ CLOTHING ALLOWANCE

is with absolute disgust that we learn of the • odd little ways our present Government has of showing appreciation for some of its armed forces. This little question is one of uniform allowance for officers in the R.N.Z-A.F. who served in the European theatre of war. We had to provide for all our own clothing after receiving the original grant on commissioning—this, of course, being no small item over a period of several One should also take into consideration that the New Zealand Air

Force is almost the lowest paid in the world. Officers serving in and around New Zealand received, I believe, £lO a year allowance, but then I suppose they had to keep up the home front morale.—Yours, etc., X. OVERSEAS. May 31, 1946. [The Air Department’s comment on this letter is as follows:—“R.N.Z.A.F. officers who served in the European theatre of war were attached to the R.A.F. and were, therefore, subject to R.A.F. pay and allowances. In some cases, these are higher than the New Zealand rates and, in others, lower. In cases where the pay was lower than New Zealand rates, the officer, on his return to New Zealand, was paid the difference, free of exchange. Royal Ait Force officers do not get a uniform allowance; and it was not considered reasonable to give this to R.N.Z.A.F. officers who were serving alongside them, particularly in view of the fact that their pay at the time, or on return to New Zealand, would ultimately be in excess of an officer of a similar rank serving in the R.N.Z.A.F, in New Zealand. Regarding the statement that the R.N.Z.A.F. is almost the lowest paid in the world, this also is entirely incorrect. In comparison with R.A.F, rates of pay, it is Sometimes higher and sometimes lower, according to rank. It ia admittedly lower than the American or Canadian Air Forces, but when compared with the cost of living in these countries, the R.N.Z.A.F. pay will purchase more than that of an airman or officer of an equivalent rank in other countries, although the latter is receiving, what, on the face of it, appears to be the higher rate of pay.”]