WAR GRATUITIES
Sir James Allen's scheme of less thnn Is. per day gratuity is put into effect I am afraid that the lion, gentleman will inour the disgust of the huge, majority of returned soldiers. As one of your correspondents has pointed out, the value of a. shilling is about 7Jd., bo that tho actual value of the proposed gratuity will scarcely exceed the; original amount proposed (.£5 or ,£(1 per year of service) —an amount tlmt 6ends a chill throughevery ex-soldier's hsart. Then again, there is, 110 doubt but that those who sacrificed an extra year or two in nrdor to render earlier assistance to the Empire should receive a greater amount than those who chose to lend their aid some considerable time later. No discrimination should be mado between officer and private in the payment of gratuities, for during the war . the. officer was in receipt of extra pay and privileges, and as an "officer" his "bit" was no greater than the ranker's. The gratuity is the question of greatest moment with every returned soldier. Returning from the front, lie is handicapped in many ways, and the trifling amount nroposed will do little to compensate for theso disabilities. As a "Digger" I submit these opinions, though I am conceited enough to suppose "" that they will not lack support from many other ''comrades in arms."—l am, etc., ' CIVIS'-ET MILES. Sir—A matter which appears to present itself as p. "point" to ninny of those patriotic people wluW have never m'.re?rinat?d beyond the Kjiores of these South Sea Islands, is the fKct that a wai gratuity of Is. nor diem would involve this diminutive Dominion in an expendi- 1 ture of nearly four millions sterling. Admittedly this is apparently true. Let me, however, ask any student of economic. ; science if this country would bo onci ' penny the worse. Not Is. of the monoy so disbursed would lie expended beyond the shores of these islands, the trading ! community of which would be thereby enriched. ' Only the profiteer will oppose 1 this laudable scheme in the interests of ; those who spared the inhabitants of Nov Zealand the indignities of degradation and outrages worse than death, .known only to those who vent nwav.—l am etc., PEECTVAL I?. TV ADD Y.
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 288, 1 September 1919, Page 6
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376WAR GRATUITIES Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 288, 1 September 1919, Page 6
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