SOLDIERS' GRATUITIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 298, 12 September 1919, Page 7

SOLDIERS' GRATUITIES

. STATEMENT BY NEW. ZEALAND ; . EXECUTIVE. • The general secretary of the New. Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association made the following statement yesterday in reference to soldiers' gratuities:— The executive of the N.Z.R.S.A. for some months prior to the Christchurch Conference had been in communication with the Minister of Defence on the sub. ject of gratuities, and •■ tho matte;' was fully considered • by the Christchurch Conference. The gratuity, if it was to be regarded as a matter of right, could obviously only be considered- in relation to tho whole question of what constituted a square deal for the soldier. So far as ho was aware, this had never been comprehensively defined by anybody, and was in itself an extremely complicated problem. Apart from particular scalps, the obligations of the State to the soldier might be exhaustively defined under the following headings:—p) Payment for service. (2) Pension for'suffering and disability. (3) Compensation for economic disability and loss of opportunities. Tho Christchurch Conference regarded the gratuity as a ,gift, independent of the obligations of the State as summarised above. It therefore' decided not to seek to influence the authorities cither in respect to the amount of the gratuity or the manner of paying it, In reference to pension?, the conference decided-to press for a minimum of ,63 15s. per woek for total disability, and, In addition to' recommending certain more liberal treatment under the Repatriation Act, affirmed the general prin--ciplo of State responsibility for raaKlng up the incomo of incapacitated men to the pre-war standard. Tho recent precipitate actioit. of tho Wellington R.S.A, has thus compromised the New Zealand.Executive In its whole policy of securing a square deal for tho soldiers. From the statements of those responsible for it, it would appear that they regard tho gratuitj as. compensation for loss of opportunities and for hardships and dangers endured: It thus appears that they conslnur tho gratuity 6houild supplement tho present scale under oach of the three, heads above, .and the presumption 'appears to bo that the gratuity oh the scale proposed wonld bo regarded as a full discharge of State responsibility in theso respects. Tho relation of the gratuity, as compensation for loss of 'opportunity, to the operations of the Repatriation' Department, which largely exists for tho same purposo, appeal's to have been overlooked. The general secretory .further remark cd that the reported c.-.1.-n of Mr.' Siev wright to speak on behalf of tho general body of returned soldiers was grotesque. His only authority was that given by a general meeting of tho Wellington R.S.A., and it should be made clear that the demands of the deputation wero in. direct and apparently intentional opposition to the declared policy of tho,Dominion Conference, which democratically represents the whole 'body of returned soldiers throughout New Zealand.