TO AVOID HARDSHIP

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2474, 29 May 1915, Page 10

TO AVOID HARDSHIP

PENSIONS TO SOLDIERS'

DEPENDENTS

GOVERNMENT SCHEME

Owing to the delay inseparable from the awarding of ponaioiv to the dependents of soldiers wlio lose their lives in the war, the Dofonco Minister has formulated a scheme by which theso dependents shall not bo in want in the interval between the death of iho soldier and the commencement of the payment of tho pensions. Theso proposals wero approved by Cabinet yesterday. The law is of course that pay ceases at death, and as death has to bo provod and the necessities of tho dependents have to be investigated, the ponsion may not be available for some months. The Government has therefore agreed that all allotments of thoir pay mado by soldiers to dopondents, but not to Savings Banks or suoh like institutions, shall bo continued for 26 weeks. Tho rule is qualified _ slightly in respect of officers in the higher ranks, whoso allotments might bo considerably in excess of pensions receivable. Following aro tho proposals as formulated by the Hon. Sir. Allen

_ "Payment of allotments, shall be continued for 26 weeks aftor such notification in cases whore tho allotment is payable to or on behalf of tho dcceasod's—(l) Widow. (2) (a) Sons undor 18 years of ago. (b) Unmarried daughters undor 21 years of ago. (3) Widowed mother. (-1) Sister or sisters having no parent or surviving brother. "As regards officers, tho maximum daily amount of tho allotment payablo shall not exceed in tho caso of a colonel, lioutenant-colonol, or major, 50 per cont. of such officer's daily pay; in the caso of a captain, CO per cent, of such officor's daily pay; in tho caso of a lioutenant or socond lioutenant, 75 per cost, of such officer's daily pay, except that the first monthly payment after notification of tho officer's death, etc., shall ba at tho full rat© of the allotment.

"If the pension or allowance granted is at a higher rate than the allotment paid to tho dependent, then an adjustment will be made: but if at a lower Tate, no portion or the allotment already issued noed bo-recovered."