WAR GRATUITIES.

Otaki Mail, Volume 27, 14 November 1919, Page 3

WAR GRATUITIES.

PROGRESS OF. PAYMENT. Good progress is being made in the payment of the Avar .gratuities to members of the Expeditionary Force, the position at the end of hist |Wcek being that 13,271 applications had been completely dealt Avith, involving an 'expenditure of £856,630. Nearly half of the applications receded to ; date have gone to the ledger department of; the pay’office for making tho necessary entries in the soldier’s account, and tho special staff engaged in dealing Avith tlic original applications is Avorking so avoll that during one day last week 1,133 claims were put through representing a distribution of £71,000. Tho aA-erago number disposed of daily i= about 760. The matter is regarded as urgent; and for that reason overtime is being steadily Avorked in this section of the office. Some soldiers Avho have received their acknoAvledgracnt of the claim are puzzled because they hcar of others avliosc acknoAA-ledgmcnts bear a later number obtaining -an earlier deposit to their credit. Though tho claims are approved in order of rceeipt, the subsequent process in the ledger department cannot always keep up the same pace, as the different clerks liaA-e varying numbers of accounts to adjust. If there is any necessity for correspondence after receipt of the acknowledgment of a claim, the soldier is adrised to mention the serial number, as this will enable the claim to be traced without delay.