MONEY FOR SOLDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24697, 28 August 1941, Page 8

MONEY FOR SOLDERS

REMITTANCES BY CABLEGRAM EFFORT T 6 ELIMINATE DELAYS (0.C.) WELLINGTON. Aug. 27. A denial that soldiers in the Middle East to whom, money was sent by cablegram had to wait until authority arrived by post from New Zealand before they could collect-the money was made to-day by the Minister of Defence, Mr F. Jones. The Minister, however, admitted that delays had and were occurring and that the whole position was being reviewed in the Middle East and in the Dominion in an. effort to expedite the receipt of money by soldiers. “Cablegrams sending money to soldiers overseas leave New Zealand regularly,” Mr Jones said, “ and formally there should be no delay in the receipt of those cablegrams at the base camp in Egypt. As soon as the money arrives a warrant is sent to the soldier concerned at his last known address and when that warrant is received he may obtain the money at any unit post office. He has the alternative of collecting the money or having it credited in his pay book, but it is not necessary for him to wait until further authoritv is received* from New Zealand," Mr Jones said that delays were occurring, but they had been caused chiefly because during the Greece and Crete campaigns men were away from Egypt and could not readily be reached. The casualties Which occurred during those campaigns had caused some confusion and an extraordinary amount of extra work, but the whole position was now being investigated both in retard to the situation in the Middle last and that at the Dominion end. Every effort was being made to have the position clarified and any delay eliminated.