The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1917. THE SECOND DIVISION.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 June 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 1917. THE SECOND DIVISION.

There is an unfortunate tendency in some quarters to misconstrue the demands of the Second Division League for a more adequate scale of allowances and pensions. Members and their supporters are accused of being lacking in patriotism or shirking in their duty, and our local contemporary has by undisguised inference associated them with I.W.W.'s and pro-Germans, a suggestion as unworthy as it is uncalled for, considering t)hat these men are preparing to assist in fighting the country's battles. We trust the community will not be misled by these misrepresentations, or that the Second Division reservists will allow them to interfere with pressing their claims upon the Government. It is not the Second Division reservists who are the shirkers; the real shirkers are to be found in the ranks of the Government, who should ere now have revised the pensions and allowances scheme which was based on the foolish notion that the ivar could Ibe won in a year, or two years at the most, and that there was no necessity for calling up the men with family responsibilities. Shirkers are also to be found in the ranks of those men wlho fear that an increase in the allowances and pensions will affect their pockets and who, in many cases, are doing nothing themselves to help to win the war except to point the way of duty to the eligibles. We are sure that whqn the public fully realise the position thly ■will support the demands of the League. To say that the present rates are adequate is to betray a lamentable lack of knowledge. The separation allowance is Is a day for the wife and 9d a day for each child up to a maximum of five children. From his ua a day the soldier decides what allotment he will make to his wife and family. Obviously he cannot allow much more than 3s a day. Thus a wife and three children -would obtain £2 3s 9d. Now, let us ask, how can they live on such a pittance? It is altogether too miserable and ivotfld in these times of high cost of living condemn them to want. The League asks that the separation allowance be increased to 6s a day and Is per day for each child. In the case of the man with three children he would leave his wife with 35s and hl'i children with "£d Is, or £2 16s a week, plus any allowance he can spare from his own pay. But what the reservist is moie concerned with is the position of his wife and children in the case of his being disabled or killed. Here the League asks that the British "humanised pensions" principles should be followed, aiming at placing incapacitated men and their dependents and the dependents of the men killed in as good a position as they -were in before the war, or as near as possible, inducing incapacitated men and dependents to improve their condition without penalising them for doing so, and caring for incapacitated men and dependents. Under the Britishl scheme it is possible for even a disabled

single man to receive up to £3 15s a week, plus an allowance of £1 for an, attendant. In the case of wives and children speciai grants are made for education, free medical attention, etc. There is no audi consideration in New Zealand. lieie an injured man <!au receive up to 35s per week, and 10s a week for an attendant, but few men receive the maximum pension, the desire of the PensionsBoard mainly being to reduce the pensions. In England soldiers receive stipulated minimum pendens corresponding to the degree of disablement, the amount of the pensions not being left to the caprice of an official board. The whole scheme of pensions for wives and children is on a generous scafle at Home, tho idea -behind it very properly being that the State should protect to the utmost) of its ability the wives and dependends of those who have Buffered or sacrificed their lives in the protection of the State's interests. Opponents of improved conditions will point out that the N.Z. Government gives up to £2 per week by way of a supplementary grant to those suffering undue hardship, hut reservists know all aJbout the ungenerous and often unjust way in which the returned men have been treated by the Pensions Board, and therefore have no desire to leave their wives and children to their tender mercies. They prefer a scale of allowances and pensions that will permit their dependents to live in reasdnaJble comfort and not ever have over their heads the possibility of a curtailment or stoppage of their pensions. Comparisons are also made by opponents to the demands of second reservists with the English scale of maintenance allowances, but they never say anything about the hundred and one things done cheerfully 'by the Home Government to assist dependents, nor do they refer to the difference in the purchasing value of the sovereip in Britain and New Zealand. What is wanted is the humanising of our scheme, like the British.. The Prince of Wales, who was chairman of the Pensions Committee responsible for the scheme, in introducing it to the .public, said: "The nation will nob forget that the statutory committee made the first great step forward in humanising our pension scheme. We have been the first to frame regulations for tho purpose of supplementing the old State pensions 'by taking into account the pre-war earnings and the pre-war standard of comfort of those who have left their homes to fight for their country. We have (been the first to attempt to draw up schemes for assisting disabled soldiers and sailors, not alone by money, but by provision for their health and training, so that they may in time be restored to the position ot earners who can work for themselves and for the State." Now that is just what the Second Division League desires to have enacted in New Zealand, Is it too much to expect? Surely not. New Zealand, even more than England, can afford to be generous to those of its sons, single or married, who are fighting for its protection and preservation, and should be glad to do so, without waiting for any one section to' force it into a realisation of its duty. The present scheme is 'but one of expediicy; the British is broad, liberal and statesmanlike. We could do with a few statesmen in New Zealand at the present time.