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Pay Day

Hullo! It's pay-day in Camp to-day!" a civilian said, as he watched a grey-painted cart rumble along the city street.

The Army Service Corps cart, in which, besides the driver, were an armed guard and huge black boxes, drove up to the Lambton Railway Station. The men, with fixed bayonets, stood by while the heavy boxes were carried to the guard's van. Then they entered the van and sat on the boxes. They were burglar-proof boxes, without a doubt. The Bill Sykes or Dick Turpin who tackled that proposition would have been a hero. At Trentham another Army Service Corps cart took up the boxes, carrying them to the Camp pay office, the escort marching alongside. It was pay-day in Camp, and the boxes contained something in coin and notes for every man in the Camp, as well as other amounts for payment of sundry items incurred by the Camp.

Once a fortnight pay-day comes round for the soldier in Camp. It is the day when the ghost walks—Saint Sovereign's Day it has been called. From the pay office to the troops, the money passes through many swift fingers which count it and distribute it to officers commanding companies, according to returns which have been furnished by each company. These returns show how many men have to be paid, what allotments are in operation, what amounts of pay have been forfeited, sick leave granted, extra duty pay due, and give particulars of transfers, kit deficiencies, promotions, reductions, and fines incurred, as well as other items. This is called an acquittance roll, and it is accompanied by a specification of the cash required.

Before the Army Service Corps cart with its guarded hoard draws up at the pay office, these rolls have been checked with the records in the office, which day by day are kept up to date by reference to routine orders. When this has been completed and the money has been counted out, it is handed over to the officers commanding and the ceremony of pay-day begins.

Every soldier has his pay-book. It is his badge of credit as a soldier, and he would not lose it for worlds. The officer commanding takes his place at a table in a hut. The men are marshalled in platoons outside by an n.c.o., and, two at a time, their names are called and the men enter, with pay-books open in their hands. The officer commanding takes the books, page 139and, while a subaltern enters the amount in each book, the O.C. hands over the cash to the men. On his pay-sheet, opposite their names and amount of pay, the men sign, so that both they and the O.C. have records of the transaction. The two men salute and retire, while the n.c.o. at the door calls the names of two others. With a company at its full strength of 180 men pay-day is a long process for the O.C., though possibly not more so than it seems to the men whose turn comes late in the ceremony.

When the last officer and man have been paid there is often some money unclaimed, through various causes. A summary of the payments made is compiled, and with the acquittance roll and unpaid money is handed into the pay office, where the clerks again check up and make the necessary entries on the pay-cards of the men, which are kept in cabinets in the office.

The four clerks who attend to the pay work of each Reinforcement in Camp are receiving their training in the work so that they will know how to carry on when on active service. They never attend to any Reinforcement but their own, and when it sails they sail with it. The payment of men on Headquarters staff, such as Camp Quartermaster's Stores, Army Service Corps, Medical and Dental Corps, and others, is a separate task. For the whole of the pay system ledger cards are kept, one for every man in Camp; and as Trentham is the mobilising camp for Infantry, the most numerous branch of the Army, many thousands of ledger accounts are opened during the year. Trentham is also the embarking camp for the Infantry, and the cleaning-up of the ledger accounts, checking them with embarkation roll, and other duties, including the transfer of the cards to Wellington, has to be undertaken as soon as a draft has sailed. Throughout its work the Pay Office is intimately associated with the Records Department, from which the initial information for the compilation of the ledger accounts is obtained.

The staff of the Pay Office consists of the main staff, which is engaged in paying the troops, and other branches which are occupied in attending to allotments and allowances, collecting Camp revenue and paying out sums for expenses incurred by soldiers when travelling to Camp and when on final leave or travelling on duty. The scheduling for payment by Wellington of separation, children's, and widowed mothers' allowances, as well as the allotments of pay made by men themselves, involves a great deal of detail work and correspondence, as birth and marriage certificates have to be checked and the information given by the men carefully verified.

Like other large Camp departments, the Pay Office is a busy place—much busier than the men might think who in a few brief moments draw their pay from their O.C., or by the dependents who receive their allotments and allowances with machine-like regularity once a fortnight.