OVERSEAS LEAVE

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 October 1946, Page 3

OVERSEAS LEAVE

MEN DISCHARGED BEFORE APRIL, 1944 ADJUSTMENTS TO BE MADE (P.A.) WELLINGTON, October 14. Payment for overseas leave on the scale adopted in April, 1944, will be made to servicemen discharged or placed on indefinite leave before that date. They will receive pay for any additional leave owed to them on this basis and have their subsistence allowance for their leave brought up to the 1944 scale. “Before April 19, 1944,” said the Minister of Defence (Mr Jones) tor day, “personnel returning from overseas service were granted standard discharge leave of 28 days on full pay, plus dependants' allowances and a subsistence allowance of 3/- a day. “The leave schedule from 1944 onwards became somewhat inadequate, consequent upon the privileges granted to troops arriving on furlough from the Middle East. A new policy of leave entitlement was applied with effect from April, 1944. All those servicemen returning after that date received leave with pay, dependants’ allowances, and subsistence allowance at 4/6 a day at the rate of two days for each month of service, with a minimum of 28 days and a maximum of 91 days. “It has now been decided that all servicemen having served overseas, and having been discharged or placed on indefinite leave before April, 1944, will be granted a direct payment of pay, subsistence allowance at 4/6 a day, and war service gratuity in lieu of the number of additional days to which they are now entitled. Dependants’ allowances will also be payable. The Minister added that an additional subsistence allowance of 1/6 a day would now be paid for all leave earned for “overseas service” since the beginning of hostilities. The Minister again emphasised that the task of making this leave adjustment was exceptionally heavy. It was probable that the work would not be completed until June of next year.