MUFTI ALLOWANCE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 124, 21 February 1944, Page 4

MUFTI ALLOWANCE

Payment For Men Held To Be Inadequate SURVEY IN AUCKLAND Dominion Special Service. AUCKLAND, February 20. Proof that the present mufti allowance of £25 paid to discharged servicemen is totally inadequate has been afforded by a survey made in Auckland by the Rehabilitation Department. An inquiry put to six leading clothing retailers in the city has revealed that the cost of providing a man with an average minimum wardrobe ranges front £36 to £3B, and with sports coat and trousers included, the total is raised to between £4<j and £46. The survey has been made at the request of the Rehabilitation Department in Wellington. Officials in Auckland emphasized that the result did not necessarily mean an automatic increase in the present mufti allowance. The original allowance was £2O, but this was later raised to £25. Minimum Needs. Retailers were provided with a list of clothing which is assumed to be the very least a returning serviceman requires to re-enter civilian life. The cost of this wardrobe, as seen by one prominent firm, is as follows:—Suit. £l2/12/-; sports coat, £4/9/6; sports trousers. £2/9/6; working trousers, £l/15/-; overcoat, £8 8/-; hat, £l/19/’ 1 : two good shirts, £2 5/-: two working shirts. £l/10/6; two woollen vests and two woollen pants. £1 15/- (alternatively._ cotton at 13/0) ; socks, fancy, one pair. 5/3; socks, wool, one pair. 2/11: shoes, £2/2/-; braces. 5/-; miscellaneous. £3. Total, with woollen underclothing. £42/19/7; with cotton underclothing, £4l/18/1. »■ It will be seen that the wardrobe contains only the bare necessities. It obviously has been presumed that a returning serviceman would still possess some civilian clothing, otherwise Hie'average man would find it most difficult to carry on with only, one suit, one pair.of shoes, and two pairs of socks, for instance. . , . It may be contended that, while men who have seen only a short period of service should be satisfied with the present payment of £25. those who have been away from civilian life for three or four rears will require considerably more. Knowing that they were about to enter the forces, many men refrained from buying new clothing early in the war, and many of the younger servicemen will have outgrown much cf the civilian clothing they possess. . . , It has been no secret that discharged servicemen consider -the present allowance to be totally inadequate to provide for their reasonable needs at pre-sent-day prices. 'Many of them consider that, if the present payment of £25 was doubled, it would be much nearer the mark, and their contention appears to be well founded as a result of this survey.