The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JULY 10. 1915.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3978, 10 July 1915, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. SATURDAY, JULY 10. 1915.

It is pleasing to record that the House is ap-

The Military Pensions Scheme.

preaching the important (pies-

tion of military pensions iit a generous spirit. As far as cun be gathered members as a whole are fairly well satisfied with the Government’s proposals. There are of -course instances where a member would appear to have a somewhat exaggerated idea as to what is a. fair and reasonable scale of pensions; whilst, on the other hand, a note of caution is being sounded, here and there, on the subject with a view to emphasising that, if it he found that increased pensions can be afforded, the law can bo so amended later. What was, however, strongly urged in the course of tlio debate last night—-and rightly, we think —is that the proposed allowance in the case of total disablement-

in what may be described as the lower ratings is .-.till somewhat inadequate. According to the measure that is before the House the widow of a private, bombardier, Itii ice-corporal, driver, gunner, trooper, sapper, bugler, trumpeter, or able seaman is to receive a pension of 25s per week with an additional allowance of os per week per child, the maximum pension not to exceed £3 per week. Here it may be pointed, out that the proposed pen-' sion in respect of the lower ratings for this Dominion is considerably higher than is being offered in the Commonwealth, where, it would seem, the authorities have decided that the widow of a private shall receive as a pension only 20s per week. Rut it does not appear that the Federal Government has made any lixed maximum as regards the pension which is to go

to a widow with a family, as the regulations provide for the payment of an additional allowance in respect oi every child under the age of 16 years. There is, then, room for improvementin the proposals before the House, first of all in that it should be provided that all* the children under the age of 16 of a widow should be covered by the pensions scheme. i >,n t what seems to us to ho a far greater v.ca.kiiess in the Bill is in that portion which relates to the suggested scale in the. case of married troops who suffer total disablement as a sequel to serving their King and Country. Vi hat is proposed to be allowed is that only 12s Gd per week shall be granted in addition to the 25s per week as in the case of a wife who has been left awidow, and 5s per child up to an aggregate of £3 weekly. Nobody, we think, will, or should, be satisfied to believe that the upkeep of a totally disabled man would not run into more than ]2s Gd per week, or, in other words, that, in the case of a totally disabled man with a wife and a large family, £3 per week would be adequate until at least one or more arc* able to go to work and so increase the family’s earnings. The proposal in this regard, it would seem, follows on the lines of the Commonwealth Act, which, in that respect is, therefore, stilt less liberal, for, under its provisions only 10s per week is provided as the extra allowance per week in respect of a totally disabled married private. We feel that the public would thoroughly approve an amendment to the proposals now before the House in the directions which wo have indicated.