AN INVIDIOUS DISTINCTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2901, 13 October 1916, Page 4

AN INVIDIOUS DISTINCTION

A. very valuable service may be rendered, by the men who volunteer to servo with the.Admiralty Motor Boat Patrol, for which Commander Armstrong is now accepting recruits. The men require to have certain special qualifications, and 'when accepted pass under Admiralty control for service abroad on Motor Boat Patrol work. Unfortunately Admiralty pay is very low.pay when compared with the rate ruling here and in our own Expeditionary Force, and in consequence suitable men in many instances cannot afford to take up the work, though anxious to do so. Some cases of this nature have been brought under our notice, and apparently the Minister of Defence has also had bis attention directed to the' matter, for we note that Cabinet has now, decided to increase the scale of paV in the case of married men to the rate paid in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. .While this step is satisfactory as k far as it goes, it must be very plain to anyone who gives the' matter thought that it does not go far enough. "There is not the slightest justification for discriminating in the manner apparently proposod between the married and the singlo men who come forward. They are alike New Zealanders in so far as all who enlist in this country are regarded as New Zealanders; they are to be engaged, single and married alike, in exactly the same work; they are all volunteering for service in the cause of the Empire—service of vital importance, calling for cour- . age, skill, and ondurance. _ Why then should there be any hesitation in placing all these New Zealanders on the same footing as other New Zealanders who.are going into the danger zone, whether under Admiralty control or military control ? Mb. Allen, we are confident,, on examina- , tion of the position will see the injustice of .any discrimination of the nature now proposed. The Admiralty, is in need of the men; that should be sufficient justification for the Government approving their enlistment in the particular service for which they are required, and for which they are specially qualified. And the Government having done its , duty to this extent, will no doubt see that justice is done the men who come forward to uphold the credit of the Dominion.