SOLDIERS' WIVES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 27, 26 October 1917, Page 3

SOLDIERS' WIVES

AND THEIR ALLOWANCES. At the meeting of the Advisory Board of the Patriotic Societies' Federation yesterday the chairman (Mr. L. 0. H. Tripp) said that in his opinion the Government in making the recent increases in allowances to soldiers' dependauts was acting generously. He said that in many cases married women would, if anything, be a little better off than they were when the head of the house was at home. He did not say, nor did he ithink, that the Government had been too generous, but as the women would be better off whilst their husbands were away, and would have to go back to their former mode of living, it was the duty of patriotic societies to encourage them as much as possible to save at present, or during such time as their husbands were away.

lii the above connection the chairman gave the following cogent illustration:— Mr. A., earning a year, enlisted. He applies to the I'inarcial Assistance Board, and the board makes the following grants:—Premiums on insurance policies, .£9 65.; interest on mortgage, £i 45.; rates, ,£1 17s. lid.; on account of board and lodging, wife and child, ,£39; total, .£54 7s. lid. The husband allotted to wife 4s. per day, per week, .£1 Bs.; separation allowance, 75.; child's allowance, ss. 3d.; total, <£2 Os. 3d. —X'lOi 135.; gross total, .£159 Os. lid. The wife now has .£159 Os. lid. and no husband to keep. If the husband was living at'home, in order to let the wife have the same income, he would want nt least another „C 1 per week, i.e., he would want a total income of .£2ll Os. lid. per annum, which is .£3l Os. lid. in excess of his pre-war income of ,£IBO. This shows that with the present j-llowances Mrs. A. is better off financially than she was before her husbaud enlisted. When the amended scale of allowances conies into operation on January 1, 1918, the present gross annual income excess will be increased to .£B2 10s. lid. per annum, and Mrs. A., after paying the balance of ss. per week for board and lodging for herself and child (the Financial Assistance Board pays the rest), will enjoy a net income of ,£l4O 10s. clear of all liabilities, except for the purchase of clothes. '