SOLDIERS' COMFORTS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 212, 8 September 1941, Page 6

SOLDIERS' COMFORTS

There have been suggestions made that money for soldiers' comforts should be raised by the more equitable and easy method of taxation rather than the inefficient means now employed. Certainly the idea is sound and those who risk their lives for us should not depend on charity, though it is debatable whether more taxation is necessary because it is quite possible to reduce public works expenditure, and there is such a thing as debt-free money. Numerous patriotic bodies have done, and are still doing, much to help the members of the fighting forces, with the assistance of the public. In other words the public do not think our fighting forces are adequately paid. \\ hy is this? It cannot be that they are not worth more because they get plenty of praise, and are they not fighting for that freedom which we value more than life—their lives? The public should demand that those who risk their health and lives for us should be paid on a scale which more nearly justifies the phrase "equality of sacrifice." When this happens our fichting forces who know what they want better than anyone else will be in a position to buy their own comforts. 'I do not wish to discouracc the sending of personal gifts.> if we do not exert pressure on our members of Parliament it is not likelv to happen. Let us do our part. H.M.M.