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The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1918. SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE

Apparently the conveners of the Second Division League Conference which is to open in Wellington to-day, are chiofiy intent on giving weight to tho demand that separation allowances Bhall be increased—notably by doubling tho grant now made to the wife of a aoldier. It is perhaps not too late to suggest to delegates that they would Be wire to reconsider the matter and to amend the whole attitudo of the League as . it has recently been defined by a section of its members. Action on these lines seems to bo their only_ alternative to placing themsolves in a hopelessly false position and completely alienating public approval and support. Tho demands lately pressed on behalf of the League are so far from being just and reasonable that if it persists in pressing them it will invite the charge that it is deliberately making extravagant demands in the hope that in tho outcome the Government will bo compelled to limit or terminate tho enlistment of married reservists on account of tho financial burdens involved. Ample justification for these strictures will be found if the demands of the League are examined in light of the provision this country now makes for its married soldiers and their dependants; and if a comparison is instituted with the conditions established in other British countries, 'the present demands of the Second Division League will appear btill more extravagant and unreasonable. Full publicity has been given recently to the existing rates of pay and allowances in New Zealana and in other Dominions, but the principal items will bear repeating. Estimating the cost of a soldiers own maintenance in food and clothing at £l per week, tho minimum pay, maintenance, and allowances of a private soldier and bis wife undoi the present New Zealand scale amount in the aggregate to £3 16s. per week. This amount is increased by 10s. 6d. per week for each child, whatever tho number of children may be. On the basis taken, where tho soldier has two children, tho family income is equivalent to £4 lVs. a week. Where* a private soldier has five children the family income is equal to £6 Bs. 6d. This, it should be remembered, is the minimum scale for each of tho different classes mentioned. On top of this, tho Financial Assistance Board is empowered to make grants not exceeding £3 per week to cover such liabilities as ront, interest, and insurance premiums. Tho addition of the maximum grant, in the oxamples eitod, would give a family income, whero a soldier has two children, of £7 17s. per week, and where ho Ims five children of £9 Bs. 6d. per Vi'cok. Something less than the maximum grant will no doubt be mado in most cases by tho Financial Assistance Board, but provision under this head substantially augments the incomes of a considerable proportion of New Zealand soldiers and their families. ( Leaving this item out of account, however, and also that of the soldier's own maintenance, tho amounts paid in cash to married private soldiers and their dependants in fchia coun-

try and in other parts of the Empire compare as under: — Britain. 'Canada. Ans. N.Z. £s. il. £B. d. £b. d. £B. d. Soldier and wife 13 0 212 11 215 5 216 0 With--1 child ... 110 0 2 1211 218 11 56 6 2 children 115 0 212 11 32 5 317 0 3 children 118 6 2 1211 3 511 4 7 6 4 children 216 21211 39 5 418 0 5 children 2 4 6 212 11 3 1211 5 8 6 'Canada makes no separate- provision for children. It will be seen that the provision made in Now Zealand compares at all points favourably, and in some cases much more than favourably, with that made elsewhere in the Empire. It is still more important that the rates fixed in this country have been set woll ahead of tho average civilian earnings of its population, ltcmcrabering that to arrive at the actual position £l per week for a soldier's own maintenance and whatever grant is obtained from the Financial Assistance Board must bo added to tho amounts stated in the table, there can bo no doubt that a very large number of families in this country will be distinctly better off financially with their breadwinner in khaki than when he was in civilian employment. It is a simple and evident fact that tho demand of the Second Division League that tic separation allowance now paid to a wife should bo doubled is made without a shadow of justification. Officials ot the League have, in effect, admitted the weakness of their case by representing that the increased allowance is needed not in order that a soldier's family may bo adequately maintained while he is away, but in order that a "nestegg" may be accumulated against his return. This change of front speaks for itself. The duty of giving soldiers who have completed their service a fair, and open opportunity of resuming their place in civil life is one the State must face and discharge directly. If_ the League is honest in its professions it cannot better satisfy its aspirations under this head than by seconding tho effortsof the Returned Soldiers' Association to have the machinery of repatriation raised to the highest standards of efficiency and enlarged and developed as occasion may demand. The Second Division delegates who are to assemble to-day will be'* wise if they recognise that what they are called upon to decide is not whether an already adequate separation allowance shall be doubled, but whether their League is to continue a useful working career or to come to an inglorious end as an object of public contempt. The League unquestionably has a record of good' service. Its agitation influenced the Government in establishing tho present liberal scale of pensions, allowances, and grants, and no doubt its representations have had a material effect in securing redress in individual cases of hardship and injustice. But it is to be said also, not with any thought of depreciating what tho League has done, but solely with an-eye to the practical issues now raised; that in all its efforts to secure fair provision for soldiers and their dependants it has been solidly backed and supported by public opinion. Persisting in Us present course it_ will lie, including a large proportionprobably a big majority—of Second Division reservists outside its membership, from whom, before it took up its present attitude, it had earned only gratitude. There is indefinite scope for a League intent on maintaining and defending the interests of soldiers and their dependants on reasonable lines, but there is no place in this country for an irresponsible body which would seek to embarrass the State- and hamper its war efforts by_ making unreasonable and unjustified demands.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19180522.2.19

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 208, 22 May 1918, Page 6

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,146

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1918. SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 208, 22 May 1918, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1918. SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 208, 22 May 1918, Page 6

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