FOR BRITAIN’S FORCES

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 February 1942, Page 5

FOR BRITAIN’S FORCES

INCREASE IN ALLOWANCES “NEST-EGG" AFTER THE WAR RUGBY, February 10. The Prime Minister, in a statement in the Commons on service pay and allowances, said;PTn the first place, the Government has accepted the suggestion for a reduction at the expense of the Exchequer of 3/6 of the compulsory allotment of their own pay made by men claiming family and dependents’ allowances, thus increasing the total family resources by 3/6. The cost to the public of this improvement will be £ 17,500,000 per year. The second improvement is an increase in all children’s allowances of 1/- per week per child, and the third improvement is a similar increase in the allowance paid to certain classes of dependents. The annual cost to the public of these improvements will be £5,000,000. “It would be, to my mind, a very anomalous and invidious situation if those who wore uniform had no nestegg after the war, when everyone else had one by reason of the higher pay they got. We have decided to institute a system of post-war credits, under which the sum of sixpence per day, or approximately £9 per year, will be set aside for all other ranks and ratings. It is the intention of the Government that the introduction of this credit should not prejudice the question when the time comes to consider the grant of a war gratuity to the Forces, on appropriate lines. The cost to the public of this bonus will be £32,500,000. We have thus sought to combine immediate improvements in those cases where family responsibilities constitute a claim for the mostsympathetic treatment possible, with general provision for the difficult time facing many of us when the war is over.

“The total cost, both current and deferred, of these improvements is £55.000,000 per year, and the figures will rise as the Forces expand further, to over £60,000,00 per year. Tnese are large figures, but I have no doubt that the burden which they represent will be patiently and cheerfully borne.”