PAY IN AIR FORCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24347, 11 July 1940, Page 11

PAY IN AIR FORCE

NEW ZEALANDERS OVERSEAS The position of a number of NewZealand airmen who, on arrival in England to complete their training, discovered that' the pay they actually drew had been reduced from £3 weekly to 4s a day with allowances, was described by the mother of an air gunner whose home is in Auckland. She said that under the circumstances no real exception could be taken to a low rate of pay, but she' thought the New Zealanders should have been advised in advance of the conditions. She said that when her son was training in New Zealand he drew £3 a week, and he and others apparently understood they would receive the same amount when serving with the Royal Air Force. On arriving in England they were surprised to find that they actually drew only 4s a day from the date of embarkation in New Zealand, with an extra Is 6d for every day they were required to fly. Because they had not been informed of the conditions, they had arrived in England with little or no money, and they had faced a difficult financial position. To help her son, she and her husband had cabled £2O, the maximum amount permitted by the New Zealand authorities.