THE GRATUITY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 3, 29 September 1919, Page 6

THE GRATUITY

OFFICIAL ORDER ISSUED

PAYMENTS TO COMMENCE

Tho Order-in-Council authqrjsiny tho payment of the war gratuity .of Is. Gd. per day of service abroad having been l«ued. payments will commence shortly. Tho ex-soldier or soldier entitled to the gratuity has to make application on a form supplied by the Defence Department, and when the account has been checked, tho money due to the applicant will bo paid to liis credit in the Post Office Savings Bank or any other bank in which he has 'an open account. The applications will require to be checked by Base Records.

Application forma (E.l?. Pay Form 192) for gratuity will be distributed to all post, offices throughout New Zealand. These forms must be completed where necessary, and forwarded to the Officer in Charge War Expenses, Wellington. In the case of deceased members, the applications should be made by their legal representatives. . When the form is received in the Pay Office it will be numbered and dealt with strictly in order of receipt. Owing to the very large number of cases, it will | be some time before they can all be investigated, so that applicants must not expect payment at once. The anplicntion will be examined by the Pay" Office and the gratuity calculated. The amount due will be remitted to the Postal Department for either— (a) Depositing to (lie credit of the applicant's present account in the Post Office Savings Bank; or (b) Denosifing to Hie credit of a Post Office Savings Bank account which will _ be.' specially opened if the ■ applicant has no other bank account, or; , (c) Lodgment at any bank or private savings bank in New' Zealand at which the applicant has a current account as shown in the application; or (d) Payment" to or for the person entitled under paragraph 11 hereof. Tn no case will the amount be naid dirpct to the member by the Pay Office. Already many thousand? of applications for the gratuity have been received. The ■total'amount which will be absorbed in the payment of the gratuity is "stimated at &K2MH. ■ ■The Minister of Defence has received many inoniries regarding ths payment of gratuity in respect of d»ceased soldiers. For general ,information, thni'eforc, it is stated'that where'a soldier I'.aS died while a member of 'th" New Zealand Forces...or after beinq bonournblv from the New Zealand Exn"d ; tionarv Forces, nayment of Hm jcratnity is limited to his widow, children,' father or mother, in tennis of section 7 (sub-section 3) of the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Act. 1918. •