THE FORGOTTEN LEGION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24408, 20 September 1940, Page 7

THE FORGOTTEN LEGION

TO THE EDITOR

Sir, —So Cabinet in its wisdom has decided to grant a bonus of 5s per week to those long-suffering, patient people, the civil servants, in order to help them in their desperate struggle to keep the wolf from the door, and to make some allowance for any unofficial increase that may have taken place in the cost of living during the last few years. It is only a few days ago since the Minister of Industries and Commerce was taking great credit to himself, and to the Socialists as a whole, upon the ground that there had only been an infinitesimal rise in the cost of living since his party talked itself into power. It would be interesting, therefore, to learn his official, not necessarily his public, attitude towards this latest increase True to form the decision to raise the wages of public servants was arrived at only after long and careful consideration. and only after these wise and just ipen who form tire Cabinet had carefully weighed all the pros and cons and had taken into account the local, national and international situation. Not until the minutest detail had been considered was this solemn, wise, and humanitarian decision arrived at. and. true to form again, the increases were made retrospective to the date on which the demands were made or the pistol was pointed at the heads of the Government. This great move was made in order that “equity” would be established amongst the workers in keeping with the recommendations of the Arbitration Court. Consideration equity justice from the Socialists! What utter humbug! What a farce! What hypocrisy when the whole country knows, and no section better than the civil servants, that the decision was arrived at long ago and that the only consideration where Cabinet is concerned is the electoral vote! First, last and all the time, in peace or in war. the vote is their god: it is paramount and all other matters must be guided bv What a travesty, what a mockery to prate of equity and justice when the unfortunate members of the Forgotten Legion, men totally disabled in the Great War of 1914-18. who are unable to carry on their normal occupations or indeed any occupation, owing to tne state of their health, are asked to exist or do the other thing on the miserable pittance of 40s per week—an amount that was fixed away back in the stone age of 1915, and has not been increased in all those years by so much as one penny piece, despite the pious words of our Socialists of equity and justice. The civil servants, a strong organised body of voters, are quite unable to keep the wolf from the door on Lb 5 S per week and must therefore be granted a bonus of 5s weekly in order to keep body and soul together, and already there has been one protesting resolution demanding that the bonus be increased to 10s per week. The Forgotten Legion, whose numbers do not. constitute a voting body of any sort have never in their history received a brass farthing of increase or a bonus of any kind, and are to keep the wolf from the door on £2 per week or just let the big bad wolf come right in—that is tn where he is not already in. Another respect in which the Forgotten Legion differs from the civil servants, railwaymen, Waterside Workers Union, Miners’ Union, etc., and which would justify different treatment for them m the eyes of the Socialists is that they have never voted a donation of anything up to £IOOO to set up a Labour daily in this Dominion, That was 3 grave oversight on the part of tne legion, although I doubt whether, uf a canvass of members was made from the North Cape to Stewart Island at any time during the last 20 years, one would succeed in raking up 1000 pence amonst them. Still, it would have been a very friendly gesture towards the Government, and one .which .would have given us. like the bodies I have enumerated, the right to rush almost immediately to the Government demanding increases of 5, 8. or 10 per cent, all round on the grounds of grave hardship and also bonuses of 5s or 10s per week for good measure—all. of course, in the true Socialist manner, to be made retrospective to the date the friendly gesture was made. The responsible Minister, in making public the decision, did so in a manner that would have done credit to a Supreme Court judge summing up and carefully weighing the evidence before delivering a momentous decision. Everything must be made to appear statesmanlike, wise and just, and there must be a liberal use of such words as “justice,” “equity,” and “fairness. While the position remains as at present with the Forgotten. Legion these are three words which all Cabinet Ministers would be well advised to delete from their vocabulary and substitute others of the meaning of which they have some notion.—l am, etc., September 18; Forgotten.