SEAMEN AND WAR RISKS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16909, 23 July 1918, Page 4

SEAMEN AND WAR RISKS.

The attention of the Government has been directed by the Merchant Service Guild to the grave privations imposed upon the dependants of seamen who are captured by the enemy and interned in Germany as " combatant prisoners of war." That there is substantial reason for this complaint is evident from the case of an Auckland woman and her four children who are expected, during the internment of their breadwinner to maintain their existence on an allowance from the owners of the Matunga of £2 17s 3d a week. The family of a private soldier, captured by the enemy, would receive at least £3 13s 6d a week, and in addition rent, insurance and such other obligations would be met by the Financial Assistance Board. It is little consolation to this woman, or her husband suffering the hardships of i captivity in Germany, or to others of which this case is typical, to be told that the liability for their relief should be discharged by the Australian Government, by the shipowners, or by the Imperial Board of Trade scheme, which is obviously inadequate to meet conditions in New Zealand. Tho prospect of little better j than starvation is not lightened by the knowledge that two Governments i are continuing a dispute over their ' respective obligations. There may [ be various solutions of the difficulty, but there is no real reason why the Government should not immediately recognise that these people are residents in New Zealand, that they are entitled to reasonable comfort, and having made adequate provision for their needs, take such measures as may be necessary to persuade the Australian Government, the shipowners or whoever else may be concerned, to undertake the tespon6ibility for their future maintenance. Nearly a year has now elapsed since the raider Wolf captured the Matunga and the Wairuna; every day in which the neglect of the dependants of their crews is allowed to continue is a fresh reproach to the Government.