SOLDIERS' WIVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23662, 22 May 1940, Page 10

SOLDIERS' WIVES

PAY NOT AVAILABLE INQUIRIES PROVE FRUITLESS DISTRESS BEING CAUSED Constant complaints are being received in- Auckland from wives unable to obtain the marriage allotment hold back from tho pay of husbands who are serving in the second echelon of tho Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Because all payments are authorised in Wellington, these wives cannot obtain satisfaction from post offices and army authorities in the Auckland Province, and as week follows week without any money being received, many of them have already been reduced to distressed circumstances.

A case in point was provided yesterday. A woman with two children whoso husband is a non-commissioned officer in the second echelon, said that for tho past fivo weeks she had been unable to draw her allotment. Daily inquiries at tho local post ofiico met with tho unvarying answer that a warrant had not beon received from Wellington, although in the husband's earlier days in camp no difficulty had beon experienced in getting it. Unable to Pay Rent

This woman had recently moved into a State house, with a rent .approaching ;30s a week. Meagre savings had gone into furnishings, so that in a Short time, without the £4 odd that she was accustomed to receiving as her allotment, she found herself unable to pay the rent. She was then told that a fine of 2s (id a week would lie imposed. She was even less able to pay this than she was to pay the original rent. On top of this she had been required, by the conditions under which State houses nro made available, to keep the grounds in order. Trying to observe these, but unable to do the work herself when sho had two small children to keep, she had paid £1 out of her slender resources to a gardener who had merely cut a lawn. Other Instances Occurring In addition, she had to buy food and firing. A relative said that, although one of the tradesman's bills was only about 19s and another's was not much bigger, he had been forced to guarantee her accounts before the tradesmen would continue credit. Other instances of a similar nature aro occurring. Until a few weeks ago there was no difficulty in obtaining the allotments, but since then no money has been obtainable. "Although we cannot afford it," said one man recently, "my wife and I are giving my cousin's wifo £1 a week to help her meet tho obligations which the Government could enable her to shoulder if only they paid tho promised allotment."