PAYMENT OF GRATUITIES

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 22762, 10 November 1945, Page 4

PAYMENT OF GRATUITIES

When Mr Nash presented his Budget earlier in the present session of Parliament, and subsequently revised his figures in view of the cessation of hostilities, he placed emphasis upon the contention that the cost of the armed services would be greater and not less because of mobilisation costs, including the payment of gratuities. Provision was made for the payment of £18,000,000 and the people are being taxed accordingly. Now Mr Nash announces that gratuity payments will not be made until the middle of next year, and that the payments will be spread over a number of years. What was in Mr Nash’s mind when he presented the revised estimates to the House? Was he then unable to anticipate the difficulties that have arisen in the preparation of the accounts? Having collected the taxation this year, will he deduct the cost of gratuities from next year’s demands upon taxpayers? The Minister is steadily building up a situation that should make possible a spectacular Budget next year, probably a short time before the general election. One of the excuses for deferring the gratuity payments is the fear of inflation, and yet by other means the Government is risking inflation with enthusiasm, including a liability for the payment of £8,000,000 to £10,000,000 to the shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand in pursuance of a political theory. And what of the men who have so richly earned the gratuity? When the time comes at last for payment, those who desire the full sum for capital investment will be entitled to uplift the whole amount, but “the others” will be paid in instalments over an as yet indeterminate period. Will they hot all have capital investments to make? And who is to deny them their claims to such a proposition? New Zealand service men and women have either earned this token of their country's gratitude or they have not. Parliament and public have decided they are fully entitled to gratuities and not to the niggardly treatment they are receiving. If inflation is feared, could not the Government make room for the effects of the gratuity payment by itself refraining from inflationary measures for purely political purposes? Clearly party political considerations come before the national duty to the men and women who served in the armed forces.