EQUAL SACRIFICE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20634, 14 August 1941, Page 4

EQUAL SACRIFICE

SINGLE UNFIT MEN

ADJUSTMENT URGED MARRIED MEN IN ARMY (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The responsibilities of a married man called up for military service, in comparison with those of the single man who is medically unfit for service, were emphasised in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Nat., Waitomo), when speaking in the second reading debate of the Finance Bill. He quoted the example of two men working together. A single man received £248 a year and a married man £2BB. Both had to pay social security and national security taxes in addition to the ordinary taxation, but in the case under review the married man had to pay £B4 a year rent, £lO a year for fuel, and was left with only £3 2s 6d a week for a family of three to live on. Mr. Broadfoot said that when a married man went on service his wile and child would receive only £3 13s a week to cover rent, clothes, and all incidental expenses. A single man unfit for service continued to draw his wages and ran no risk of losing his life. “Surely there is no equality of sacrifice between these two men,” he declared. “A single unfit man left in New Zealand should have to bear some of the burden to make the sacrifice equal in some way. This is a problem calling for solution by the Government,” he added.