MILITARY PENSIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1614, 4 December 1912, Page 5

MILITARY PENSIONS.

' HOW THE ACT OPERATES. THE YOUNGEST APPLICANT. Tho Military Pensions • Act, passed last session, by which every wan who ivas actually under lire in tho Maori Wars is entitled to a pension if ho bo not already possessed of property or income of a certain stipulated value, is now in full operation, and the Department is dealing with' applications every day. Pulsions are being granted daily, but up to tlio present tho number granted is comparatively small. Among those who have applied for the pension are several friendly Natives' who fought with tho v.hite colonists in the wars. Sir. G. C. Vaclie, head of the Pwisions' Department, gave ,an interesting explanation of liow the Act will operate to a Dominion reporter yesterday. "Although we have issued over 100 application forms," ho said, "we have not received a sufficient number of them back to form an opinion as to whether many of the applicants are eligible or not, but we assume that they Know tho Act, and that they aro eligible. Many of the veterans are in fairly comfortable circumstances, but this pension is to lielp practically indigent, people, if you can call a man possessed of the allowed amount of property ind : gent. Suppose a married man lias property of .£6BO in a home,- not subject to deduction for mortgage, he will be entitled to draw tho full iimounl of tho pension—«£*36 per year. For a single man tho exemption is ,£340. Added to this, an applicant may have an annual income of a year, and still draw tho full ponsion, and it he is a married man lie may also have as much as ,£IOO in tho bank. Tho pension scale is really a little mors liberal than maiiy people suppose. "Tho applicants will generally be about Go years of age, and an income of U!34 at that age, if it were an annuity from an insurance company, would represent a capital of about i'34o. A man 65 years of age cau purchase an annuity from ,tho Government Life Insurance at the rate of £10 7s. Bd. per year, for every JSIOO paid by him. To show how the Act will benefit some men—we have hero an application from a married man with a home valued at ,£620, He is now receiving a pension' of £12 a year, and he will receive under the new Aet a pension of .£36 a year. Where the old ago pension provided for the deduction, of the allowance before the property of a married man was halved for the purpose of assessing liow much of it ought to be presumed to bo his, and hov, r much Ms wife's, under the Military Pensions' Act we halve the total properly and deduct the allowance from the half. In this case the amount of the man's. half is £310, and this is within the allowance, .^SIO." Mr. Fache said he had already received an application from a man who is only 56 years of age. He was .in tho-1868 war— ii years ago—serving with the colours as a bugler. He was then 12 years of,ngo t only. It is very unlikely that there are any younger men holding tho New Zealand medal.