SOLDIERS' PENSIONS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 173, 16 April 1919, Page 8

SOLDIERS' PENSIONS

NO REDUCTION FOR WORKING

THE DUNEDIN STATEMENT

DEPARTMENT'S POLICY EXPLAINED

A statement made ii) Dunediii last week to tho.effect that a soldier had had his pension reduced because the military authorities had "found out" that lie had gone to work was yesterday brought under the notico of the Commissioner of Tensions.

"The statement is incorrect, and it is unfair," said Mr. Gaelic. "The use of the. term 'found out' would 6eem to indicate that we had been seeking out this man or spying on him, but nothing of tha sort is ever done by this Department. I can state absolutely that if it is true, as reported, that this man's pension was reduced it was not because he went to work.

"I think that probably what happened was this—that about the lime this man's pension came up for review in the ordinary course of things, he sot employment. It is tho policy of the board to give a man an interim pension for a period after his return to New Zealand. Vhis period, which we may call the ' itling down' period, is usually six months. When this initial pension is granted the hoard does not. ask any questions abo'.it the man's income, and the dependants, as well as the man himself, receive a pension during this period! If a man is allowed a full pension of ,£2, the vife gob £\. If he reoeives £[, the vifo gets" 10s., assuming, of course, that the wife is not disqualified by any circumstance from receiving a pension. This initial pension is never less in amou-it than that to which'the soldier is found to be entitled when his permanent pension comes to be settled. When the time conies for the determination of the permanent pension, or of tho renewal of tho temnorarv pension at the end of the settling down period, the board requires to know what the soldier i= doing in order to determine to what extent his wife and family have claims on the country. But the man's own nension is nssfs?ccl solely on his disability, regardless of what his income may be. The claims of the wife and children are dependent on the ability of the man to supp"rt them. If the man is in permanent employment, earning wages sufficient in tho opinion- of the board to support his family, then the pension of ilie wife «nd children may be cut ■ down. This has been the policy of the board since the lieginning, "and it will probably be continued, because the arrangement seems to be such an eminently reasonable one. At the same time as the pension of the wife and children are cut d-m-n it commonly happens that the pension of the soldier is also cut down, not because he is working, but because he is recovering health and strength

"The initial pension is invariably in excess of the amount that would be allowed to a man in respect of his debilities. For instance, a man who has lost an arm gets the full pension of £2 for the, period of six months, and then his nension is brought down to the rate fixed for this injury in the .schedule of the Act. A man who has lost an eye is entitled to a permanent pension of M a week, but the practice is to give such a man a pension of 30s. a week during the settling down period. "I have not all the facts about this caso referred to in Dunedin. but I have asked.for information. Until I know all the facts about the man I cannot answer the particular complaint made. But I have no doubt that the statement that tlie man's pension was reduced because he worked is incorrect."