GRATUITY PAYMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 267, 12 November 1945, Page 4

GRATUITY PAYMENTS

2ND N.Z.E.F. ASSOCIATION’S PROTEST

MINISTERS INVITED TO A MEETING

(P.A.) Auckland. Nov. 11. An invitation to the Minister of Finance. Mr. Nash, and the Minister of Defence, Mr. Jones, to attend a mass meeting of returned servicemen who wish to protest against the spreading of the war gratuity payments is contained in telegrams sent to the two Ministers by the chairman of the Auckland branch of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. Association. ’"he telegrams follow a resolution passed at a meeting of returned servicemen held in Auckland on October 18, demanding that the gratuity he paitf in full within six months of the date of a serviceman, or woman, being discharged, or placed on indefinite leave without pay, or, in case of permanent members of the sen-ice, within six months from the actual cessation of hostilities. The telegram addressed to Mr. Nash refers to the “ignoring" of the resolution, and states that returned men everywhere consider the decision a slur upon their integrity in view of the recent lump sum payments to civilian workers, provision in the Budget for the total amount of the gratuity promised, immediate increases in the social security benefits and the Bank of New Zealand purchase.