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Evening Star, Issue 16051, 1 March 1916, Page 4

An Auckland message States that tile official Statement relative to the mishap to' the Auckland-Wellington express at Pukekohe is that a goods train was run into a loop to cross the south-bound express from Auckland. Whilst waiting the interval was utilised as usual in shunting waggons on and off the train from the second loop siding. .The points for the latter were supposed to have been set for the back road, leading towards the cattleyards. Owing to misadventure the points were.-actually set for the main line, and ihe result was; that when sovoft of the •waggons were put off the train into the Aiding they ran through to the main line points in. a southerly direction, and on to the main lino for about 300 yafda from th& ititifln. _ .

There - will bo general satisfaction over the announcement by Soldiers' Pay the Minister, of Defence •and Pensions, that the National Government have decided to increase the separation allowance of married soldiers with families, although appreciation may be qualified by reason of tho limited extent of the increase. The Australian standard has been adopted—a fact which proves at once that the administrative authorities in New Zealand are now content to follow rather" than to lead.. It has been agreed; Mr Allen explains, that s in addition to the Is per day allowance already made for wives of soldiers, 6d ' per day for each child under 16 years of age up to a maximum of four children should be made. The belated increase means that the pay of a soldier with a wife and four children, will be 8s a day, which is the maximum in Australia. The new scale is to be retrospective. It is obvious that the National Government believe in a simple life for a soldier's family; and there is no doubt that strict simplicity must be practised unless the Government deal promptly and effectively with those intensely patriotic persons and associations who persist in raising the prices of the essential necessaries of life. The wife who is left with four children will have to bo equal to her soldier husband in courage and patriotism in order to make even the most generous allotment his daily pay of 8s meet the family's needs in respect to food, clothing, boots, and school equipment. It is a great pity that it is necessary at all to make provision for soldiers with a wife and four children. The services of such men should not be utilised until all the unencumbered singlo men have been coaxed or Compelled to do their duty. The Government, it ought to be acknowledged, have at least a pricking of conscience over the position, for tho Hon. Mr Allen says definitely:— I make it plain that this is not done now as a special inducement to married men, but to put them in a better position to go if they feel an earnest call to do so. Wo don't want to encourage a man with more than four children under 16 years of ago to go, though, of courso, they aro at liberty to do so if they think fit. Obviously, the " priceless heritage" of good old British freedom which gives as much liberty to singlo care-freo men to stay at home as it gives to a warned man with a wife and four or more children to go to war, leaving his family to fight an economic battle, is to be maintained at all cost in New Zealand. But there is a gleam of promise in the Government's illconcealed shame over the position. One must in candor say that it has been with a laggard spirit that the National Government have moved towards establishing and enforcing a strong and an effective ]jolicy in respect to recruiting, soldiers' pay, allowances, and pensions. Conditions are still far from reasonable, perfection. In regard to the recent substantial increase in the allowance for the provision of an officer's kit, for example (a tardy improvement, for which the Defence Minister deserves congratulation) the adjustment was only partial, and did not include the n.c.o.s in the reinforcements who have been promoted to commissions, r.or for men similarly promoted at the front. Why is it that the National Government will not break away from piecemeal improvement, and adopt a policy of comprehensive completeness ? Is there a niggardly influence in the Ministry that acts as a drag on progress uphill? Then there is much discontent over the treatment of returned soldiers and the assessment of incapacitated men's needs as regards pensions. Ministers already have admitted that the Pensions Board were at the outset too anxious to conserve unduly tho financial interests of the State, but it is now asserted that the members of the board are taking a wide view. It may be quite true that tho board's view is a great deal wider than it was, but has clearness of vision been clouded at all by the extension of its range ? Complaints now exist as to the board's assessment of some men's needs. There is the story of' 1 one man, for example, who, having his right arm paralysed, refused the offer of a pension of 17s 6d a week and sturdily declined to accept his discharge. If the story bo true, it is time that the board's vision was extended a little further and in the direction of more reasonable generosity. It should be remembered that the responsibility of the State for a soldier ends with his discharge, and in''view of that fact careful consideration should be given by the Pensions Board to the needs of incapacitated men. And if there is to be any error at all, let it bo on the side of generosity. The Minister of Public Health (Mr Eussell) is to be commended for pointing out to the recent Patriotic Societies' Conference at Wellington the necessity for making special provision in the cases of soldiers who have been discharged before their condition of health justly warranted such discharge. The Minister's suggestion that a Board of Appeal may be desirable to review the decision of the military authorities in such cases is Worthy of the Government's attention with a view of meeting unforeseen difficulties and of exercising complete justice. It is certain that Parliament will insist on improving tho Pensions Act, and it is to b% hoped that tho Government will agree to remove anomalies in the present scale of allowances, to increase the powers of the Pensions Board, to establish a Board of Appeal, to increase the minimum pensions in respect to partially disabled men .and also the allowances to dependents, and to adopt the principle of granting pensions as of right. Improvement in these matters alone will draw men into active ser<dco. In addition, the Government should, we think, definitely announce that unless single men enlist by a fixed date enlistment will bo made compulsory. The people are tired of hearing ambiguous declarations by Ministers as to encouraging married men and coaxing single men to enlist. They want plain words and a progressive policy. ■