FAMILY ALLOTMENTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20837, 16 July 1942, Page 3

FAMILY ALLOTMENTS

AMERICAN SOLDIERS £6/18,/- LOWEST MONTHLY (Special Australian Correspondent.) (9.30 a.m.) CANBERRA, July 16. Every married private, corporal and sergeant in the United States Army .serving in the south-west Pacific is now compelled to contribute 22 dollars, approximately £6 18s, a month towards the support of his family. The lowest amount to which a United States soldier’s wife, without children, is entitled by law is 50 dollars, £ls 18s, monthly. This includes a generous Government subsidy. * The compulsory allotment now enforced does not apply to ranks higher than a sergeant. It is held that these receive sufficient pay to make substantial voluntary contributions. Details of the scheme have been released by the United States Army authorities in Australia, who say that about 85 per cent of the American soldiers serving in this theatre are affected. For the first child the United States Government pays 12 dollars a month, with 10 dollars for each, additional child. A further voluntary scheme for , dependants provides for parents, brothers and sisters. Though payments in America will not be made until November, the scheme operates retrospectively from June, when the wages of American soldiers were increased by an average of 15 dollars monthly.