The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY. JULY 10, 1915.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 10 July 1915, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN. SATURDAY. JULY 10, 1915.

SOLDIERS' PENSIONS AND LAND ENDOWMENTS. A well-sustained and comparatively lengthy endeavour of the people of New /ioaland has reached its climax, and in the natural order of extreme efforts it surely will diminish" if not die away. AVe speak of the several Patriotic Societies' movements to form and establish funds for the relief and maintenance of wounded and invalid soldiers. A goodly sum has been raised" in the aggregate, but it would prove but a bagatelle in contrast with tho volume of legitimate claimants for relief from the fund that will come forward this year, next year and for many years succeeding. Even in the restricted sphere of operation foreshadowed for tin's privately-raised fund there will be a great excess of applicants over the number that the fund will prove equal to. But what of tho ranks of ordinary applicants? of the hundreds upon hundreds of men well-entitled to relief but possessing no special qualifications for relief by* comparison Avfth fellow sufferers? Their 'ots wil The hard indeed unless the Government wakes up speedily to its full responsibility in this matter. For aught anyone can tell with surety the present war may extend for another five years or more; ill the light of history sucTi a contingency seems extremely probable, save for the matter of finance, which may prove to be a problem insurmountable by any of the combatants long before five years shall have elapsed. But even supposing the war can be ended in a year or so from the present time, the fact will remain to be faced in New Zealand as in other parts of the empire that a very great number of those who have fought tor the empireand us will .be unfitted for heavy labour and in ..many instances for labour of any sort? How are these sufferers to be provided for? By State pensions, certainly; but what are the pensions to be and how raised? If no specific endeavour he made to provide in advance for future needs in'this-regard, a pittanco is all that will be available for the later sufferers; the country's consolidated revenues may prove unequal to the strain of doing more. The fervour evoked by the .present crisis may not remain at patriotic heat when all the peril lias passed; already in Now Zealand's span-long history we have had more than one illustration of an abatement in patriotic appreciation of discharged soldiers' past services. Maybe there will be experienced no recrudescence of such a, deplorable manifestation, for the spirit of patriotism manifest just now is 'of a quality far different from that of 18S/9-1901; but the risk, however small, of the people as a whole becoming lethargic over their duty to the men ' broken on the war-wlieol should uot be run. Parliament should legislate during the present session to ensure for the Military Pensions Fund 1 a ; sound--finance. An extensive area of the national lands of the dominion J should be hypothecated for this pur- ( pose, and tho Act hedged with such 1 restrictions that no future -Parliament ( would dare to divert endowments from 1 the purpose to which they will he al- < located. There are''precedents for < such an enactment in past legislation ' of New Zealand Parliaments; if we *

When tender baues, oppressed by croup, Lie gasping in their little cots, Their anguished parents o'er them stoop. And strive to save the tiny tots, To such as these there comes a v boon, Which need no doctor, but a spoon, A syrup, soothing, safe and sure-World-famous "Woods" Great Peppermint. Oure." -| - . to . -.

mistake not there are areas of land set apart under more than one statute' tor the provision of funds for liabilities of the State in regard to education, civil pensions and so forth. In any legislation setting lands apart for purposes of raising revenue for use of a Military Pensions Board tlie interests of the people as a -whole could he safeguarded by a proviso that any monetary surplus at the end of each quinquennial period should become (payable in 'the Consolidated revenue for -general purposes. In this way a safeguard would be given against useless aggregation, of the funds, anil at the same time a surety would be given' to those soldiers who may become dependent upon the State that tile services they are rendering to-day -will be properly appreciated for the whole lifetime, at least, of those whom injury or misfortune may make permanent pensioners upon the St'aic in whose services their incapacity will arise.