The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 10, 1917. THE SECOND DIVISION.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVI, Issue 16283, 10 July 1917, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 10, 1917. THE SECOND DIVISION.

A few people seem suspicious of the Second Division Leagues, as if' they were composed of married men who, having sent the single men to fight for them to the last man, cheered them, and promised them support, were inclined to demand all sorts of advantages before they will ficht themselves. "We believe that no conception of their attitude could be more unjust to the Second Division Leagues. The members of the Leagues are not demanding' any advantages for themselves. They do not ask that they, if they are required to serve, shall be given higher wages. They ask only that more reasonable separation allowances and more reasonable pensions, if the married soldier is killed or disabled, shall be provided for his wife and familv. and that is a fair request. It should not have been necessary perhaps for the Second Division Leagues to urn-e it, but the refusal of the Government till this date to give any satisfactory rervl-"' to pleas that, pensions must' he humanised in New Zealand, as tliev have been at Home, has made it necessary for them to act, and the whole community should be behind the Leagues in pressing this just claim. The demand for better pensions and allowances is a demand that soldiers' wives and children shall not be penalised, more than is unavoidable, because thoy are dependents of soldiers, doing the best service for the State. Itis also the latest and most important form of the demand for equality of sacrifice, so far as that can he afforded. Tf we may judge from recent ballots, only one man in four can be a soldier.

"When he is chosen to protect the State, he lias a ricrht to ask that } tlic other three, wlio take no risk

and may be performing' no service, shall protect his children against risks of penury aud disabilities from which theirs are protected by his sacrifice. If the. men who .stayed at home, were very poor it mialit be impossible with the best intentions to make riffht provision for a soldier's children. But with twenty-one millions of war-profits New Zealand can afford to pay. and the men who stay home safely, making- more profits while some fight, can do no less than pay.The Government would have saved itself almost all the trouble it lias had in re.o-ard to the war efforts of New Zealand if it had recognised the anomaly of these war_ profits more fully at an earlier date, and the Second Division Leagues deserve approval, and will receive it, we believe, from even the Great majority of the profit'-makers, when they, show how a proportion of t-heni can be justly snent- But if any, doubts are felt still about the objects of these organisations, they can be resolved by attendance at the'meeting which has been called for to-night.

The suggestion which has been made in some quarters that after all it may not be advisable for New Zealand to keep up its reinforcement drafts when that entails the service of married soldiers is not one, we think, which will anneal to Second Division Leagues. The Wellington League replied to it in advance when, in recording their ' sympathy with the bereaved ones of those slain in the Messines 'battle, its members pledged themselves, once again, to plav their part and "carry on" until the cause for which those heroes fell lias been triumphantly vindicated. When the suffestion waa last made at a political deputation, it was met by a member of Parliament with the question: "What does that mean? Does it mean that my boy, who has been there three years next month, has got to stay there while " all 'the other-s stay at home?" "And lie had a right to ask. New Zoalanders have promised their •support to the .boys whom they; ■sent off, and no one else can give it for them. If we have been sending Home more men than have been' required for actual reinforcements, that may be unnecessary in the future/ but the reinforcement drafts must be l kept up. The Imperial authorities have already .said that men are more important than production, and, till they change their view, that decision must,be! 1 accepted. If the war lasts lon <r enough there may come a time when, in fairness to their , own industries and the • conditions of this country, . New Zealanders will have to ask, if it is possible .for them to go on sending men, but the question is hardly pertinent at this stas~e, when almost no attempt has been made to organise either women's services,' or town labour, for the. country, because apparent]-" the hoed has not been felt. In their search' for men the British Government has been reduced to calling up again, compulsorily, those . who liad been discharged as wounded and unfit for further service, but who now must serve again if they can pass the medical examination. But the straits which are being felt in Britain, are being felt far more in Germany. As the war promises to-day, it seems most probable that, thouerh' Second Division men will be called up in New Zealand, no large proportion of them will see the front. , :