THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1918. THE SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17324, 25 May 1918, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, MAY 25, 1918. THE SECOND DIVISION LEAGUE.

The outcome of tho conference of delegates of the Second Division League seems to us to be somewhat doubtful. Apparently, however, the league has been treading very treacherous ground lately in the prosecution of its demand that the separation allowance for wives should be increased. As far as we can gather it has committed itself to a proposal that the increase which is asked for should take the form of reserved pay. But if we are not mistaken, it has affirmed also the principle that the wife's separation allowanoe shall, irrespective of this, be doubled, in the form of a grant from the Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board. If that be so, it is asking for something more than its original demand that the wife's allowance should be increased from 3s to 6s per day. It is hardly well advised if it has extended its demands in this manner. In the expression which has been used by some of the prominent members of the league, the claim has been made that a " nest-egg," nominally in the form of an addition of 3s per day to the separation allowance, should be put aside for the benefit of married reservists on their return from active service. In this sense it would not be an increased separation allowance that would be secured. A separation allowance is granted for the maintenance of a dependent during the absence of the reservist. It involves only a confusion of terms to suggest that a portion of a separation allowance should be accumulated for the use of the reservist after his discharge. It would certainly be better, and would spare the Second Division Ijeaguo a good deal of criticism, if the " nest-egg " proposal were abandoned altogether. The arguments in favour of it are far from impressive. It has been contended, among other things, that in the provision of a "nestegg," the married soldier should be put on the same footing as the unmarried soldier who, upon his return from active service, receives a substantial sum in cash representing the proportion of his pay which, by a wise provision, has been deferred. The invalidity of this contention is obvious. It would be a sound contention only if it were proposed that the two classes of reservists should be on the same footing in all respects. The married soldier is not, and never has been, on the same footing as the unmarried soldier. The sufficient proof of this consists in the fact that the obligation of service abroad has fallen first on the unmarried reservist and in the insistence with which the Second Division League has urged that all unmarried men who are physically fit should bo mobilised before any married man is compulsorily sent away. The special ground, therefore, on which the provision of a " nest-egg" was demanded is clearly untenable. But in general terms it has been contended that the reservist should not, upon his discharge from service, be thrown on a cold world without any resouroes. That is a contention with which, we need hardly say, we are in complete sympathy. The State must unquestionably see to it that the future of the men whom it calls to military service in its defence is completely safeguarded. The strong pressure of public opinion must, if necessary, force any Government that may be in power to a full recognition of the duty which will certainly rest upon it to ensure that the soldiers of the dominion resume the places in the civil life of the community that are temporarily vacated by them. This is strictly, however, a question of repatriation, to which the Returned Soldiers' Association is, with a fitting regard for the interests of tho men whom it represents, directing its attention. It is, moreover, not a question which is being neglected bv the Government, although it has not yet been thought fit to establish a separate Department of Repatriation. The problem of repatriation is not to be confused with the provision of separate allowances. The one is a problem connected with the demobilisation of the forces; the other relates exclusively to the care of the dependents of the soldiers during the progress of the war. In attempting t-o represent two distinct issues as overlapping and interdependent, members of the Second Division League committed a tactical error. As a consequence a considerable 'measure of the sympathy which was previously accorded to the league seems to hove been alienated from it. The league would have been better employed if all through it lia:l directed its efforts more largely to the securing of an improvement in the provision for maintenance of wives. One of the resolutions of tho conference presents a d< - mand which, taken by itself, merits sympathetic consideration. Wo refer to that affirming that " as tho present maintenance of soldiers' homes and tho standard of living of dependents are governed by the policy of the Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board " it is necessary that the board's policy should be liberalised to such an extent " that grants shall be made covering such recurring obligations as will ensure to each wife a clear net minimum income of £2 2s per week, or £109 4s per annum, with children's allowances extra." This is to say that the separation allowance of 3s a day to a wife will suffice if the Financial Assistance Boa.rd takes such a liberal view of its duties as to ensure that the dependent shall be maintained in a reasonable degree of comfort. It dow not matter what t.'^e

grant is called—whether ifc bo separation allowance or financial assistance—as long as it is sufficient. It is obvious that the question of separation allowanco and the question of financial assistance bang closely together. So closely do they hang together that the Financial Assistance Board has taken advantage of an increase in the allowances to review and in some instances to rcduco its grants. It lias arbitrarily fixed tho amount of incomo upon which a dependent wife should be expected to live. Tho Second Division League has now challenged this decision on the ground that this arbitrarily-fixed amount is inadequate. Upon this point the issue is narrowed down to a matter of about a shilling a day. The margin of difFerenco is so small that wo hope the Government may see its way to como to a decision that will be satisfactory to the league. But we cannot anticipate that it will do so if tho league claims that, over and above this provision for the wife, a " nest-egg " allowance shall be made for the reservist.