ALLOWANCES FOR CHILDREN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22539, 2 October 1936, Page 15

ALLOWANCES FOR CHILDREN

Sir, —With reference to one of the Government's latest extravagances — viz., the payment of bus fares and boarding allowances for school children, I should like to ask why well-to-do parents should be given 5s a week when they can perfectly well to pay for board for their children. This money is coining out of the pockets of the taxpayers and it seems to me to be scandalous waste. If the money were being paid to really necessitous cases one could understand it, but why wealthy people should receive a present of 5s a week at the expense of the taxpayers passes my comprehension. The fact tjiat tho wealthy may also be workers and taxpayers is no argument, though I have no doubt some of them might say, " Wo may as well accept some of it back, as taxes arc heavy! " Taxes certainly are heavy, but the members of the Government are always telling us that the purpose of the higher taxation is to help tho working man and the poor. As a worker I object on principle to this measure. My wages have been raised, but increased rent and increased costs of living have already put me in a worse position than before' and 1 have no doubt there aro thousands in the same case. Citizen.

[The position is, stated the secretary of the Auckland Education Board, Mr. I). W. Dunlop, when the letter was referred to him, that if a child living away from a post-primary school has to board in a town where there is a secondary school, then his parents are allowed 5s a week toward the board. This applies also to conveyance allowances, a grant of up to 6d being made for five miles and up to 8d for a longer distance. The system was in force before the depression, was abandoned during the depression," and has recently been restored. At no time has the condition of the parents been considered.]