The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1918. THE CALL TO ARMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 April 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1918. THE CALL TO ARMS.

The calling to the colors of the fathers of children brings the war closely home to us. The Government obviously was very 'reluctant to call up other than Class A of the Second Division, but the appeal of the British Prime Minister, and the general seriousness of the war outlook, vinade the course inevitable, and, unless there is a big improvement in the situation in the next few months, it is likely that all the fit men in the country will be required, and the Government will have no option but to call them up. It is questionable at such a time as this if we are justified in maintaining the appeal boards. As for the married men, they will readily enough respond to the unmistakable call to arms. All they have been concerned about in the past has been the provision made for wives and children. The present scale is utterly inadequate, and it is a pity the question was not dealt with in the recent session of Parlia-

fflent. It will be remembered that when members of Parliament last year pressed the demand for increased allowances the Minister of Finance represented that the provision of the necessary money would seriously embarrass the country, yet lie was able to announce a week or two ago a surplus of four millions anil a quarter, or sufficient to pay four times over what was asked oil behalf of the dependents of the soldiers. It is estimated that a separation allowance of 5s per day for wives and Is 6d for children would involve an extra million a year, and interest on this would only be £50,000 a year. The providing of this sum is neither here nor there for the country, but the extra few shillings a day is a very material matter for the dependents of tlie men called up: it is a difference between penury and a state of decent comfort. It is the State's duty to see that all dependents are properly provided for, but it is a duty members of the present Cabinet have up to now consistently shirked.. Mr. -Massey in the House recently said that Cabinet members had as much sympathy with the men who were fighting for us and their dependents as members of Parliament had and more, though they did not advertise the jfact. Actions, however, speak more eloquently than words, and Cabinet has yet to advertise how practical is that sympathy Mr. Massey professes. Cabinet has said that 3s a( day for Wives and Is for children is a sufficient separation allowance, and that the soldier should out of his own pay of 5s allow ,them another 3s Cd a day. How can any soldier get along on Is Od a day! The thing is absurd. The Government know it is absurd, too, but it is a convenient way of shifting the responsibility for the proper maintenance of the wives and children, on to others. In September Sir Joseph Ward told the House that Parliament would be sitting before the Second Division reservists were taken to camp, and the scale of allowances could then be reviewed. In October he begged members who wanted increased provision for soldiers' dependents to wait for six' months in order to ascertain the position of the public revenue at the close of the financial year. The financial year has closed with a record surplus, and if Cabinet were possessed of that practical sympathy Mr. Massey has alluded to, why did it not bring down proposals for increased allowances at the same time that it decided to call up the first few classes of the Second Division? From the beginning the Government has consistently shirked its duty regarding the dependents of soldiers, and done what it has done only when forced by public opinion. And the Government will continue to do as little as it may tc/ improve the lot of dependents until public opinion is aroused to the injustice of the present scale of allowances. But this will never be done by Second Division reservists taking up the., attitude the Wellington meeting did on Sunday and a section of the Canterbury reservists did yesterday. That attitude will only alienate public support and sympathy at a. time when both are required if the 1 * injustices are to be remedied. Moreover, such a course of action is as unpatriotic as it is J unconstitutional. We are in the midst of the most serious crisis which has ever faced the Empire, and New Zealand must play her full part to the utmost of her powers and to the very end, whatever the loss or sacrifices entailed by her manhood. The call is clear and overpowering, and surely it will never be said of the married reservists if they failed in their duty when their time came, even if the Government shirked its duty respecting provision for the dependents. And we are confident it wilf never be said of the vast majority of the Second Division. [Since the above was written the Government has anounced its intention of improving the lot of dependents, chiefly by increasing children's allowances to 10s 6d a week, by assisting reservists in regard to the payment of life insurance premiums, :ind liberalising the assistance to other dependents, principally Widowed mothers. Nothing, however, has been done to increase the wife's allowance, which ip the principal bone of contention. The present allowance is 3s a day, and if this were increased to 5s there would.be as little cause for complaint as there is over the new pensions scheme.]