PENSIONS AND PRUDENCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1556, 27 May 1916, Page 2

PENSIONS AND PRUDENCE.

IN dealing with difficulties regarding pensions, Sir Joseph Ward (Minister of Finance) stated in (he House of Representatives on Wednesday that the Financial Statement would shortly be before the members, and it would then be seen how many-sided problems of finance this country was faced with. I’p to the present: only about 4,000 soldiers had returned, and when they all returned the expenditure would probably be at least forty times (he amount of .(.'90,000 now being paid. The Minister of Defence had estimated that the amount required would be a million, and it was impossible to say wdiether that estimate was right or wrong. There had already been heavy lighting, but there would be still greater lighting when the British offensive commenced, If the pensions were fixed at as liberal a scale as possible for the present they could be reviewed after the war, when we knew belter what the resources and liabilities of the country were. Should the end of the war come soon the pensions might be increased, but should it continue for, say, two years, it would not be easy to maintain even the present rates. It was wrong to demand pensions based on the rates of wages ruling, and the country could not stand such rates. Any scheme to take paid or all the wealth of the country would end in disaster.