HE GAVE HIS LIFE

Chronicle (Levin), 4 January 1947, Page 7

HE GAVE HIS LIFE

THEY "PLUNDERED" HIS ESTATE The manuer in which the estate of a young fightef pilot, killed in action, was "plundered for death duties" has been described by ihe airman's father, who was executor oi his sou's estate (says the N.Z. Herald). The officer concerned was killed in action in December, 1944, but it was . not until September, 1945, that he was oflicially presumed dead. For the purpose of settliug his estate a statement of accounts had to be obtained througb the Air Department from the Air Ministry in England, and these details were not available uutil last July. In spite of the fact that delays were . solely attributable to war conditions, the ydung pilot 's estate, whieh was Willed to his younger brother aud two sisters, was assessed for death duty, with the penhl rate of 5 per cent. calculated from a date six months earlier than that on which death -\had bees presumed. "I f eel strongly about the whole matter," said the dead airman's father. "My son was not a spendthrif t. He had' accumulated balanees in pay aniouiiting to £1000 with a view to his owrn feliabilitation after the war. The balauce of his taxable estate consisted »pf two insurance policies which he had kept alive out of his Sefvice pay, and his owu bank savings. "That a boy who died in the service of his country should have his estate plundered for death duty is bad- enough. That the penal rate should be extorted when an early settlement was impossible is sheer 'wickedness. " A friend of the young fighter pilot 'had a more terse comment to offer. There was an offenee, he said, for which a soldier could be shot on the battlefield. It was the crime of robbing the dead.