R.S.A. CONFERENCE.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 11927, 21 October 1919, Page 5

R.S.A. CONFERENCE.

Per Press Association

Wellington, October PO. The Pay and Allowances Committee, reportng with regard to a Wellington remit that the New Zealand rate of pay be raised to that of the and to be retrospective, stated that it had no recommendation to make, leaving decision to the full conference. Mr A. R. Sievwright “(Wellington), convenor of the committee, moved'the adoption of the remit, and spoke in support of it. The remit was decisively rejected, the only delegate who voted in favour of it being Mr Sievwright. The Employment of returned soldiers formed the subject of a report by the Repatriation Committee which stated that it found many soldiers had been refused reemployment in the Public Service on account of war injuries. The committee urged that employment at a wage comparable with what they would have been receiving had they not enlisted should be found for them; that a separate superannuation fund subsidised by the Government be established in order to remove any difficulty in with superannuation; that no soldier so re-employed shall lose by reason of war service any annual Increment to which he would otherwise have been entitled. The report was adopted. The Pay, Allowances and Gratuities Committee recommended that every endeavour be made to have the increase in the rate of officers’ pay made ;fully retrospective; that soldiers' financial assistance be made fully retrospective to all members of the N.Z.E.F., and that legislation be introduced to give effect to this principle; that clause 13 of the Government’s scheme, as passed by Parliament, in which these allowances cannot be claimed as a right, and are issued at the discretion of the Minister of Defence, should be withdrawn. The clause referred to reads as folio ws : None of thejallowances authorised in this order can be claimed as a right, but are issued at the discretion of the Minister of Defence. The recommendations were adopted.

With regard to gratuities, the conference resolved that the period spent in hospital by returned soldiers in New Zealand be counted as active service for the purpose of a gratuity, provided “gratuities cease on June 28th, 1919, whether such soldiers are discharged or not. It was also decided that as a general principle gratuities of deceased soldiers should be paid to the legal representatives of such soldiers in every case, and that no deduction should be made from any soldiers’ gratuity for any military offence committed after June 28th, 1919.