THE PENSION OF A V. C.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 January 1930, Page 2

THE PENSION OF A V. C.

LITTLE KNOWN LAW. LONDON, November 21. The announcement in the House of Commons that the holder of a Victoria Cross may, in certain circumstances, draw a pension up to £75 a year, was news to many people, and even to some, ljieuibers of “the .Most Enviable Order.”. It is true that the provision is plainly stated in the last published edition of Royal I'a.v Warrant (1926), but that document is not closely studied outside; official circles. Even the knowledge that the V. C. always has carried an annuity of £lO a year for men below commissioned rank, though fairly general, is not by any means universal. One of the V. C.’s at the Prince of Wales’s dinner declared that many people were under the impression his decoration was supplemented by a substantial pension, and were incredulous when they learned that it amounted only to fifty shillings a. quarter. Tne provision for increasing the £lO annuity is not new, but it has not so far been taken advantage of to a great extent. This may be due partly to lack of knowledge about it, and partly to the conditions governing the powers entrusted to the Army Council. These powers give the council discretion to increase the annuity up to, but not exceeding, a total of £75 a year in cases where the holder of a V. C. is unable, “in. consequence of age or of incapacity occasioned by causes beyond his own control,” to earn a livelihood. At present there are but eight cases of V, C.’s v 110 take advantage of this (provision, and two only are drawing the full £75 a year, A necessitous V. C., who has a disability pension, cannot benefit under the special provision without consideration of the disability tension. He is entitled to an increase of the V. C. annuity only to such an extent as may bring the total amount of pension from public funds—other than a contributory old-age pension —up to .£75 annually.