WAR GRATUITIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 65, 11 December 1918, Page 4

WAR GRATUITIES

The Minister or Defence had a pleasant task to perform yesterday in announcing that the Government had authorised an expenditure of too millions in gratuities to soldiers who had served overseas and in meeting various claims that have been made on behalf of soldiers and their dependants. Although tho heavy and as yet unmeasured expenditure which 'will be entailed in restoring soldiers to civil life has still to be faced, this allocation in a sense, rounds off the financial provision made for soldiers and their families , —a provision, it may bo said., of which the Dominion has no reason to.be ashamed. As a> whole tho New Zealand scale of _ pay and pensions will bear comparison with that of any country which has taken part in the war, and it seems likely that the same will hold good of the allocation now made for gratuities , and other payments. No one would dream of suggesting that too much has been, or is being, done for soldiers and their families, or that any money payment can recompense their sacrifices. But in justice it must be conceded that tho Government k acting with creditable liberality. The details of the proposed expenditure justify' Sir James Allen's statement that an honest attempt has been made to clear up all grievances, old ones and new ones. Tho biggest item of all is an 'amount of £1,255,000 in gratuities for service and in" proportion to its duration, but the total amount allotted, in satisfaction of grievances is very substantial. The claim for the payment of retrospective allowances which has been pressed so vigorously by the Returned Soldiers' Association rs met, though not quite in the form in which it was advanced, and will account for a, sum of £440,000. Nothing in the proposals,; will command warmer approval' , than the allocation of a sum of £60,000 to bring the pay of the nursing service into line with' that of Australia. The concessions made to officers seem to be well warranted. The outfit allowance of £25 was notoriously inadequate, and in regard to pay it is onlv right that officers who have served in the field should be at no disadvantage as compared with the members of tho permanent staff. Although they will mark the end of the soldier's raili> tary service, the gratuities now approved will not mark the end of tho State's responsibility. It will remain to do all that can in reason be done towards re-establishing the soldier in civil life. But the gratuities are substantial enough to typify j public gratitude, and should serve a useful purposo as our fighting men return.