THE GRATUITIES DEBATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17275, 26 September 1919, Page 6

THE GRATUITIES DEBATE

The feeling uppermost in the minds of returned soldiers after reading the report of the Parliamentary debate on the gratuities will be relief that the scale has at length been fixed and approved by the House. As it was submitted by the Government, the scheme appealed to the country as fair without being extravagant, as generous without being reckless. The great majority of the soldiers were content to leave the decision with those who are answerable for it to the country, and for the purely party phases of the controversy which developed they can have nothing but impatience. This is election year, and at such a time it is th;; privilege of politicians who hold to office to roll out millions trippingly from the tongue. Opposition and Labour members took full advantage of this opportunity. As Mr. Hine remarked, there would have been no lack of volunteers to suggest the increase of any scale the Government might have submitted. It would have been better and more seemly if the whole question had been decided on its merits by the National Government. Sir James Allen was apparently very anxious that this course should be followed, but Sir Joseph Ward's chief preoccupation seems to have been to escape responsibility for the decision. He left it to the successors of the National Government to assess the sum the country can afford, and when their judgment was submitted to the House if was made the occasion of a very transparent piece of electioneering. This exhibition will no doubt be rated by the constituencies at its true worth.