The Ignorance of Wives.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3086, 17 May 1917, Page 6

The Ignorance of Wives.

Another matter that continually worries the association is soldiers' allotments of pay to wives. Some men attend to this as a matter of as a first duty. Others attend to it readily enough when they are reminded of it, and others again—very few in this case—fight shy of making the allotment, and have to he coaxed in various ways to do the right thing by their better halves.: Tho men who positively refuso to do so were fortunately very few, yet there have been such cases. ' The association committee and secretary have come to learn, however, that about 60 or 70 per cent, of soldiers' wives do not know of, or do not know the way to secure, allowances that are theirs for tho asking; and the association is asking that all soldiers—either Molunteers or- ballot mon —should on Being called up be given full particulars on that score. How many people know, for example, that a man, or his wife, has to present his marriage Hues and the birth certificates of each of his children, either to the "Q.M.G.," i Brandon Street (Defence Department office), or to the Paymaster at the camp, before matters are set in train to secure the allowances due them by regulation? Times out of number women who have never dreamt of claiming the allowances they and their children are entitled to call at the War Relief-Association's office, praying for relief, and it has become part of the secretary's duty +o instruct such women as to the proper procedure. The allowance to a wife is a shilling a day and for each child 9d.- per 'day,, up to five children. How Much Allowance? Then again it is a moot point how much a soldier should leave his wife, assuming, of course, that his Army pay is all that both have to live upon. The best type of men leave their wives 4s. a day, and reserve the other Is. for themselves, but the association knows, the Camp Commandant knows, and the returned man knows that Is.' a day is not enough for the needs of a man in the service, not even if he is engaged in the real thing "somewhere in France" or "anywhere in Palestine." The Eoldier authority states that a -man should reserve to himself at least 2s.' a day, - probably Tiecause that sum judiciously spent on fruit and vegetables when in billet helps to vary the_service fare and keep a man fit. Then there is an insatiable demand for "smokes," which runs away' with a good deal' of a soldier's pocket money. , Another Special Gall. There is yet another -way in which the funds of the War Relief Association in Wellington are subject to encroachment, which may not be the case elsewhere where the disbursement is governed by more rigid rules. For example, it is not an uncommon thing in England and at the front for a man to get into trouble for some delinquency or other, the nature of.which does not niattqr here. For his misdemeanour he is given so ,nany days or weeks "C.8." (confined to barracks), and whilst he is under detention his pay is stopped, and automatically -a cablegram is sent to the Pay Department here to stop his wife's allowance for the period of his incarceration. The military authorities argue' that during that time the man is earning nothing for the State, and is not entitled to be paid, and, ergo, his wit'o must suffer, though she be 12.OUQ.miles away, just as she has to do in civil life when the breadwinner is' imprisonod for an'offence. It is often very hard on the wife and the children, a»'l the fact that it is so has led to applications for assistance being made to i the association.