Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

FOR THE SOLDERS

£2,000,000 IN GRANTS RETROSPECTIVE ALLOWANCES The Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) announced in the House of Representatives yesterday some important concessions to the soldiers. He explained that, in addition to paying gratuities oil a generous scale to the men who had served overseas, the Government intended to make retrospective increases 'in officers' pay and outfit allowance, to pro-, vide for grants in the direction of retrospective payment of separation allowances, and to make generous provision for education of soldiers. The total amount of money to be spent in these directions was over .£2,000,000. After explaining briefly, the arrangements made for tlie educational and vocational training of soldiers during the demobilisation period, the Minister said ho proposed to set apart for these purposes a sum of J1'50,000. If the amount was not largo enough it would be increased later.

. Member's would recollect, continued the Minister, that complaints had been made during the last four years that the allowance made for the outfit of an offii cer was not large enough. The original allowance had been £20, and this was increased subsequently to ,£25. Ho proposed to remove all possible cause for complaint by asking that the outfit allowanco should bo made up to .£4O in all cases. If an officer was no more, the amount would be paid to his widow. This arrangement would cost ,£70,000. Then came the question of retrospective separation allowances. He had stated previously that' the cost of paying these allowances retrospectively would be .£615,000. The returned soldiers toad, suggested that something should be taken from the sum provided for gratuities in order to cover the retrospective allowance?, and he had promised to'consider that suggestion. He had decided to take nothing from the gratuities, but to set aside a sum of ,£MO,OOO to make some provision in lieu of gratuities. (Applause.) These extra allowances would bo made to the wives of married men who 'voluntarily enlisted and who served in the period up to December 31,-1917, when the rate of: separation allowance was increased. The allowance would-be paid to the wife or to the guardian of motherless children.

Prom time to time, continued the Minister, the question of officers' pay had been discussed. It had been represented that the New Zealand officers had been underpaid right from the start; Hβ proposed from April 1 last to bring up the Expeditionary Force rate of pay to the permanent staff,rate. That would cost about .£172,000. It would be necessary also to bring the pay of the. nursing, service into something like line with the nursing service of Australia. That would xost .£60,000, making. .£232,000 for the officers and nurses. The war gratuity would be one week's pay for each eighteen weeks' service in the case of unmarried men and one week's pay for each thirteen weeks' service in the case of married men. That bonus was going to cost ,£1,255,000. The items he had mentioned, making a total of over .£2,000,000, were in addition to the i£500,000 set aside for repatriation and the unlimited amount that was available for financial assistance to soldiers, who after discharge were not able immediately to find work. Every soldier on discharge would set four week's leave on full pay and a railway pass for three weeks. The Government, wanted l the men to get back into civilian life quickly, and it was making up for'iiho short leave by the gratuity system. Men would be assisted until they found work. They would be required to do something. Work would be found for them, and then they and their wives and children, would be kept going until they found a place in civilian life again. "An honest attempt, has been made to clear up all grievances, old ones and new ones," added the Minister. "I have no. doubt there will still be complaints. But I hope members -will take those complaints for what they are worth. We are providing a very large sum of money, for the men who have done so much for us." (Applause.) . , In answer to a question, the Minister of Defence said that New Zealanders who had been transferred to the Imperial Forces would be entitled to the British gratuity. .He would be prepared in euch cases to ni*fce up the gratuity to the New Zealand level,

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19181211.2.26

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

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

Word count
Tapeke kupu
720

FOR THE SOLDERS Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 65, 11 December 1918, Page 4

FOR THE SOLDERS Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 65, 11 December 1918, Page 4

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert