ALLOWANCES AND PENSIONS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17530, 13 July 1917, Page 4

ALLOWANCES AND PENSIONS.

Detatus of the allowances and .pensions asked for by the Canterbury Second Division League* need not bo discussed pending the conference to bo hold in Wellington next week, but the general principle that is at the back of the demands is open for consideration. Tho situation is, of course, a very serious one for members of the Second D)i|vision. They have to anticipate tho call of King and country. Thoy have to i assume that the war is going to Hast for a considerable time and they know that the Government has no . thought of slackening the part of tho Dominion in tho great struggle. They have to get ready for the ballot, and they fully recogniso the duty of tho individual to the Stato. But these men have immediate and heavy responsibilities to their wives and children, and tho manhood that beckons them into the trenches also compels them to do all that is possible to ensure tho safe keeping and ordinary comfort of their dependents Consequently they will demand from the Government next week a substantial advance upon the existing scale of allowances and pensions. Experience suggests that the demands will be resisted at first, but that eventually the pressure of members and public will secure la more liberal scalo than is now paid?. It has been the case all along that tho Government has followed public opinion, several paces in the rear, in this matter of allowances and pensions. The existing schedules would be much lower had tho proposals of the Government been accepted without protest by the House of Representatives. However, we suppose that Ministers are neither oblivious nor indifferent to tho growing feeling throughout the country that New Zealand cannot conscribe men without doing justice to their families. If tho Government thinks the demands of the Second Division a little high, it must remember, that the cost of living is excessive. The" Government that takes a man for active servica and allows his wife and children to be exploited does a great deal te create difficulties for itself. However, the people of the Dominion, for whom the Second Division will fight, have no wish to withhold a full measure of financial assistance, and are only too anxious that just provision shall bo made for tho soldiers' dependents. There arises tho fact that tho Expeditionary Fdrco now in tho field includes thousands of married men "who enlisted voluntarily, and whatever improvements are made in the scalo of payments must in justice bo applied to them. The Government has in regard to this subject a great opportunity to show a true appreciation of the soidier and to display real staft.esmanship.