PENSIONS and ALLOWANCES.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 September 1917, Page 5

PENSIONS and ALLOWANCES.

CONSIDERED BY CABINET.

ALLOWANCES UNLIKELY TO BH INCREASED. From Our (Parliamentary Reporter. Wellington, Sept. 15. Cabinet was engaged to-day consider ing the allied questions of and allowances. The Minister of Defence is understood to have made certain propoa- , als, "but these have to be adopted, or amended, by the Cabinet as ft whole, ' and it has been made fairly obvious already that the Ministers will not 3nd it easy to reach complete agreement oil a subject that looms very large in tie eyes of members of Parliament.

There are two ways of, approaching the questions that have been .pressed : upon the attention of parliament atld the Government by the Second Division League. A Minister may ask himself, "How far can the country afford to go in making provision for the. incapacitated soldiers and for the dependents?" or he may put the question this ivayi "What payments ought we to fbs in order to ensure that no soldier and no dependent shall suffer unnecessary hardship?" Both the Minister of Sefenfce and the Minister of Finance have indl- ; cated in their speeches. that' they are putting the question in the first form. But the Second Division men, who are well represented in the House, refuse to admit that the ordinary test can be Bp-> plied to this form of expenditure. N«w : Zealand cannot afford the war, but must see it through, whatever the cost, We Ho not economise in ships, shells, rifles, ; barracks, uniforms or rations. We ie- • gard all theße forms of war expenditure as essential, and proceed to devise mesas of providing the money. Is- fair financial provision for the soldiers and their de-. pendents any less essential? Shall lih'e . widow, the orphan and the maimed suffer privation in order that the country as a whole may be spared financial etubarassment? . . These are some of the arguments" that the Ministers will have to encounter It' the proposals they submit to Parliament fall short of what members regard as adequate provision for the married men. What these proposals will be lt is not easy to predict confidently..'.Tljere will be noiincrease in soldiers'pay, New Zealand private, with his iwd, clothing, board and equipiiiiSW,!ill /already; receiving the equivalent of more than. £3 per wepk., ■ be confined to pensions and allowances, and the indicationsare that pensions will bo increased motf jthas .allowances., JO*? / authorities argue that an assurance" of' a 1 reasonably high pension in the event of ' her husband's A death is of more Vetfue'.to » the wifo than a high allowance during 1 Ilia absence at the front. But it does r pot follow that the House will, take tba.. , flirio view as the Ministers on thi# subject, and it would not be, surprising jf, - jljlie debates prove stormy. An effortwill, be made to give allowances statu(tory form, and this is a point upon' 'whjoii 'thc Minister of Defence appears' firm. He sftys that'the 1 are to be fixed by regulation, • *'