The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1915. THE PENSIONS BILL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 71, 23 July 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1915. THE PENSIONS BILL.

At the commencement of the debate in Parliament last Tuesday, Sir Joseph Ward gave Mr Massey the opportunity of correcting a statement which had been published to the effect chat the proposed amendments in the Bill had boon submitted to a caucus of the Go-| vernmont Party. Such a course (says' the Wellington Post) has not been ( taken, and would, in Mr Massey’s opinion, have been improper. The journal quoted goes on to say: Jt is gratifying to find the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition concurring in the statement that the discussion in the Defence Committee was kept entirely free of the party element. If an element which at the present time is such a menace to the paramount interests of the nation can be thus eliminated from the discussion of the War Pensions Bill, why cannot it be also banished from the consideration both of the financial measures that will be needed to give effect to the Bill and of the other

special problems of the war? And if the party leaders can thus meet in harmonious and businesslike co-oper-ation on a Secret Defence Committee, why can they not meet and co-operate in the same way on that other Secret Committee which, under the name of Cabinet, carries on the whole administration of the country? In the case of the War Pensions' Hill the party element has been kept well under, not merely in the Defence Committee but in Parliament itself. The strongest speech delivered in support of the Bill as- reported from the Defence Committee was that of Sir Joseph Ward. .Mr Allen has given figures to show the serious* character of the obligations to which the Bill will commit the coun-

try. He estimated that the amendments introduced by the committee would involve an addition of from £‘200.000 to £‘250,000 to the amount required. and that, on the basis of a two years’ war, the total liability would be about £1,000,000 a year. Nevertheless, some of the Opposition .Lett Wing pressed strongly for an increase of the totally disabled private’s pension to o‘2 a week. The reproof which they received from their leader was .crushing. Seldom, if ever, has Sir Joseph Ward been beard to better advantage in Parliament. The gist ol his eloquent speech was that mupatriot ic benevolence must be limited bv a duo regard for the resources ol

the country, which, wonderful as thenarc, have never been subjected to such a tost as that which the war will supply. Lot ns remember that if the strain does not prove too severe the. pensions can be afterwards increased.l but to cut them down in the event of. a miscalculation would he cruel, if not Impossible.