Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, MAY 14th, 1917. THE SECOND DIVISION.

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1917, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. MONDAY, MAY 14th, 1917. THE SECOND DIVISION.

.The Cabinet's classification of tlie men of tire Second Division has come in for considerable criticism, and it is evident that several amendments will be* found necessary when Parliament assembles next month- 'The constant withdrawal of men from the industries of the Dominion is causing a serious position to arise, and we are rapidly approaching the time when we shall be unable to spare any jrnoro men without paralysing the industries of the country- . Food production is all important at this stage of the war, and we consider that if New Zealand devoted more attention lo food production it would be assisting the Empire very much. If the women of the country had been organised when compulsory military service, was introduced there Mould be much less trouble iii filling the civil positions of those who are called up for active service. Wo would then have been able to send tiie maximum number of men with the minimum interference with our productions- The scale of pay and pensions will also require careful attention, and an endeavour must be made to impose as little hardship as possible on those: left behind- The burden of assisting the dependents should be imposed on those who are over military age or who have been rejected on account of physical defects- Many of those who go into ramp break down under the prcliminarv training and are discharged as unfit and have to endeavour to get back into some civil occupation- Under the present regulations these men get no consideration whatever from the Defence authorities: It is generally agreed that the men of +he Second Division will not be called up before Qclober. and will go iulo camp about December- If that is the case, business men will have very little time to arrange

their affairs- In other districts a Second Division League has been formed and much valuable work has been done. If the married men of this district intend to do anything it is about time tlm-t they got moving l . A meeting' should be called as soon as possible and all difficulties thoroughly discussed- These should be carefully summarised and brought under the notice of Parliament when it assembles. Already several branches of the League have made representations to the Acting Premier suggesting certain improvements in the classification of the Second Division and in the scale of pay and pensions. These will be brought under the notice of the Cabinet and submitted to Parliament in due course- lion- Sir James Allen does not appear to favour any considerable increase in pay or pensions on the ground that it would place too great a financial burden on the country- In reply to this, it may be stated that the financil burdens that .the war has imposed on the Dominion will be a

mere bagatelle when compared with the loss of the best of her manhood- Who is going to take the place of those who have fallen? Surely the Government will not allow men from Australia who did not offer their services to the Empire to come into Xew Zealand- The people of this country will not tolerate that. We have had to pay to the full our debt to the Empire and we are not going to make sacrifices in order that the '"shirkers" from elsewhere Zealand in future should be an shall benefit- A passport to Xew honourable discharge from the Empire's fighting men- Many of those who are avoiding their obligations consider that they are going to reap a rich harvest by their unpatriotism. They should be taught a sharp lesson, and shown that when the war is over their troubles will begin in earnest- At the present time the Empire is too much engaged in lighting against Prussian despotism to have time to devote to the enemy within our gates. Their time will come when peace is declared. They should certainly be disfranchised for life and made ineligible for any position under the Government- The

imposition of a special poll tax on shirkers would not be out of place. The money so derived could bo utilised for the benefit of the dependents of those who have fallenThe Patriotic Associations could do valuable work in acting as a Vigilance Committee and preventing shirkers getting into any important positions in the community- Henceforth they must become hewers of stone and drawers of water for those who have done their part in the warIf they do not like these conditions * they can go out of the Dominion- The road to Germany will then be clear- It has been frequently boasted that tlie pay and pensions given to New Zealand soldiers are the best in the world- A similar claim has been made by Canada and AustraliaThere is no need to go into the merits of the respective claims, but of this we are certain that the o-rants in Xew Zealand are quite inadequate. The separation allowance to the wife is better under the British scale than under that in vogue in Xew Zealand. The people of this Dominion are not at nil satisfied with the action of the Xational Government in the matter, and it behoves Parliament to o-et to work and remedy the most glaring defects in the Military Service or there will be trouble.