PAY AND ALLOWANCES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 March 1943, Page 3

PAY AND ALLOWANCES

IN NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE NEyV RATES ANNOUNCED. REMOVAL OF ANOMALIES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Personnel of the Royal New Zealand Air Force who were previously receiving pay at rates lower than those applicable to corresponding ranks in the Army are now to receive equal rates, according to a statement issued last evening by the ActingMinister of Defence, Mr Fraser. The increased rates will be payable retrospectively to November 1, 1942. “In any case where a member of the R.N.Z.A.F. is receiving less pay than a .member of equivalent rank and with the same domestic responsibilities, the pay is to be made up to the Army rate,” said Mr Fraser. “This means that a married aircraftman with three children, for example, will receive the same pay, wife’s allowance, children’s allowance, and domestic allowance, as a married private with three children. Provision has been made that the pay he is.required to allot to his wife or other dependants shall be the same as in the Army. Generally, these provisions apply to all ranks and all branches of the Air Force. “To remove anomalies that formerly existed, certain basic rates of pay in the Air Force will be increased. Men who were enlisted from the Air Training Corps, for example, previously received pay for a period of three months at the rate of £lOO per annum, which was increased to £l3O per annum at the conclusion of the threemonthly training period. Moreover, there were a number of trades in which the commencing rates of pay varied from £lOO per annum to £l3O per annum. All of these rates have now been increased to £137 per annum, which is the annual equivalent of the pay of 7s 6d a day issued to an unmarried private in the Army. “An adjustment has also been made in the amount of living-out allowance paid to Air Force personnel who are not provided with rations and quarters, this allowance being increased to the Army rate, i.e., 3s a day to a man living-out in his home town, and 4s 6d a day to a man living-out away from his home town. “These pay and allowance arrangements .will result in some complexity in the calculation of some of the scales of pay and have necessitated a complete revision of the pay documents of all personnel,” Mr Fraser added. “In consequence, the arrears of pay and allowances are only now being issued.”