PAY FORFEITED

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3110, 14 June 1917, Page 6

PAY FORFEITED

PENALISING DEPENDANTS

A SERIOUS HARDSHIP

A paragraph in General Orders deals with forfeiture of pay by members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. "In order to remove iiny Misapprehension as to tho forfeiture of pay applicable to tho New Zealand Ejcpeditionary Forces_ under tho Army Act, and in aecoruanco with tiie New Zealand Expeditionary Force orders on tho subject," it runs, "tho following instructions are issued for tho guidance of commanding ohicers abroad:— (1) Net rate of pay is forfeited whilst undergoing detention or field punishment. (2) Gross rato of pay is forfeited (a) when awarded by commanding officer; (b) when awarded by courtmartial,• (c) under Royal Warrant for absence without leave. The point of general interest about these orders is that they show how a soldier, by misconduct or breach of military regulations iu England or France, may bring about a Btoppago of tho allotment he had made to his family in Kew Zealand. The patriotic societies have had evidence of the hardship that is ea'useu in this way. If a married soldier has allotted it. a day to his wife and children, and has retained only Is. a. day for himself, as many hundreds of men have done, the forfeiture of gross pay does not penalise his pocket to any great extent.- But it withdraws from his family the means of subsistence. A a extreme illustration is provided t>y the case of a soldier who has been sentenced to si term of imprisonment abroad .for a military offence. His pay has been stopped, nnd his wife and children have become dependent upon assistance from the Patriotic Fund. Members of the War Helief Association are strongly of opinion that the regulations should be amended to provide for the continuanco of allotments under all enditions. The wives and children in New Zealand are in no way responsible for the offences against military law of husbands in tho war area. The statement applies also to mothers and other dependants In whose favour allotments have been made. "Surely they can punish the soldier without punishing his dependants," said a member of tho association yesterday. "New Zealand has made a contract with theso wives whose husbands have gone to the front. They should receivo their allotments as a matter of right." (,