The Dominion. TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1018. DANGEROUS TACTICS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 189, 30 April 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1018. DANGEROUS TACTICS

A meeting of Chiristchurch citizens on Sunday night passed a resolution which calls for tho strongest condemnation and censure. Framed ostensibly in tho interests of married reservists and their families, it in effect advises that no Second Division reservist should lcavo for camp until tho demands of the Second Division League (in regard to allowances and pensions) had been conceded by tho Government; and also demands that a Parliamentary election bo held immediately. If this does not urge defiance of the law it is' difficult to understand its meaning! Tho president of_ tho Christchurch Second Division Leaguo (Mr. Gresson) took tho only course open to a loyal citizen in resigning his office as a protest against the passage of this resolution. His action is timely, not only as making his personal position clear, but as, emphasising tho fact that no one has any right to invoko the sanction and authority of th'e mass of Second Division rcsorvists in what oan only bo regarded as an attompt to mask an anti-conscrip-1 tion agitation under an affectation of concern for tho welfare of tlieso reservists_ and their_ dependants. The meeting at Christchurch was held under the auspices of the Second Division Leaguo, hut we must certainly decline to believe that Second Division men as a. body are prepared to resort to such tactics as tlio meeting countenanced. Most members of the Second Division are no doubt well ablo to perceivo that these tactics can only dishonour and bring into contempt the cause they are ostensibly designed to promote. It is a foul aspersion on the men of the Second Division to suggest that, they are ready to manufacture or magnify grievances in order to find a pretext for evading the duty of service which tens of thousands of their countrymen have gallantly discharged, but tbie resolution cannot be read otherwise than as an attempt to foment agitation on these lines. The Second Division men are urged to take a course which must hamper and impede the _ Government in the supremely important duty of sending away reinforcements' promptly and _ in adequate numbers. This is not agitation in tho interests of the Second Division. It is agitation in the interests .of Germany. The broad merits of the case are so ( obvious that tho proceedings at the Christchurch meeting will presumably bo scrutinised by tho police with a view to determining whethor any of those concerned have made themselves liable to prosecution under the War Hegulations. Agitation_ on these lines in itself invites _ indignation and censure, but it iss open to condemnation also as tending to discredit whatever just demands Second Division reservists wish to make upon the State. All loyal and right-think-ing members of the Second Division will recognisc that their claims could not bo more seriously weakened than by being identified with such tactics. The reputation of the Second Division has certainly not keen increased by the utterances of some of thoso who profess to speak in its name, and at tho same time it is notorious that the membership of the Second Division League would be far greater than it is but that many reservists arc utterly out of sympathy with tho attituclo of some of its selected spokesmen. Ono outcome of this state of affairs is that the league has framed demands relating to separation allowances and pensions which are unlikely to be generally approved or supported either in Parliament or in the country. No doubt there are directions in which the scale of pensions and allowances may reasonably be amended or extended, hut thero is certainly no reason to believe that the Second Division League has the people of New Zealand, or even a majority of the members of the Second Division, behind it in demanding that the separation allowances now • made to the wives of soldiers shall he doubled, and that existing pensions shall also be very largely increased. Taking it that a scale of either pensions or allowances is reasonably liberal which aims at maintaining the bulk of tho people concerned in the conditions in which

they wore living prior to the war, it must bo admitted that the provision made in ?iew Zealand leaves little ground for complaint. Naturally it is impossible lo tako incomes higher than ordinary as a basis for pensions and allowances, but the provision made under these heads company not unfavourably with the wages paid to unskilled workers and even to many skilled workers. For instance, there is a separation allowance to tho wife of a private soldier of 3s. per day, and ihe separation allowance paid in respect of children / has just been increased to Is. 6d. per day. Thus, a soldier with a wife and one child, provided he allots 3s. of his military pay of ss. per day, is enabled to leave his family with an income of £2 12s. Gd. per week, which with his own allowance of Ms. a week is equal to a wago of £3 6s. 6d. per week. In tho case of a man with two childron, tho total income is £3 17s. per week, and where there are three children it is £4 7s. Gd. per week. Considering _ that in each case the, soldier is being maintained and has nothing to pay for his own food and clothing these rates compare very well with the peace-timo. remuneration of a very largo proportion of tho working population of this country. But this is not all. In addition there is special provision made under the financial assistance schemo by which the amounts set out above may be supplemented to tlib extent of an additional £3 a week. Tho Financial Assistance Board is empowered to make grants to. men who could not keep their homes together . without some more liberal provision than military pay and the ordinary separation allowance, and also to those who have such liabilities to meet as interest payments and insurance premiums. Ji.ightly administered the scheme of financial assistance will make the whole system of provision for soldiers and their , dependants flexible and smooth-working, and members of the Second Division, in particular, have every right to insist that it shall be administered in no other way. During the recent short session of Parliament some members asserted that tho Financial Assistance Board had been acting in a parsimonious manner. The Prime Minister gave an assuranco that if it had the matter would bo attended to beforo the Minister oi? Finance and himself left New Zealand. The satisfactory fulfilment of this promise seems to be the laßt thing needed to relieve Second Division reservists_ and their families of substantial grievances, although, as has been said by us on previous occasions, some secondary questions may still call for treatment. Second Division reservists are, of course, fully entitled to press for just conditions. But they should bo ready, as no doubt tho majority are, to recogniso that to advance unreasonable demands, particularly at this stage of tho war, would be to tako the surest means_ of _ dishonouring themselves and crippling the efforts of their country.