WIDOWS' PENSIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 244, 15 April 1912, Page 7

WIDOWS' PENSIONS.

AMPLICATIONS AND COST,' .An opportunity of gauging tlie extra liability cast upon the consolidated revenue through the important extension of the old age pension scheme lry the inclusion of widows is afforded by a return obtained from the Pensions Department by the .Hon. IT. G. Ell, Minister in charge. One of Mr. Ell's first acts upon taking oHi.Ce was to ascertain the progrrss of the new scheme. He ascertained that up till iM'arch 31 last, the pensions granted to widows amounted to 946, involving an annual liability (approximately) of £15:900. "It must be very gratifying to the author of the scheme, the" late Prime Minister," remarked Mr. Ell, "to see the amount of good work it has already been the means of accomplishing. I am, however, satisfied that the advantages of the Act are not as widely known yet as they should b\>, and the position of a number of orphans, as revealed by the return I have obtained, shows the absolute necessity for such a measure. I happen to know one case where a mother has had a very hard struggle for years, going out to work every day for her little ones. She is now delighted'that, as a result of the Widows' Pensions scheme,, she will be relieved of the necessity of doing two days' work in the week, so that, instead of working six days, she will now be able to devote two days to the care of her children without sacrificing any of their material comforts and necessities. She was overjoyed at the prospect of long years of drudgery being thus relieved."

APPLICATIONS. : . _ The following applications for the pension have been received:—December, 74; January, 593; February, 350; March, 130; April, to date, 20; total, '1179. The Magistrates have considered M 6 applications, and have granted 794 and rejected 152. The pensions in force under the Act represent an approximate liability of £15,000, and 'the average pension -i« £2O per annum. The families of the beneficiaries range in .number from one to fifteen, and the number of children in one family under 14, from one to eight. ESTIMATE AXD RESULT. 1 "You will remember," continued Mr. Ell, "that when the Act was introduced it was estimated that there would be 3000 beneficiaries, and that 'cue annual cost would be, at an average of £lB per annum, £55,000. We are not able to j state definitely on the authority of the last census the actual number of widows in the Dominion, but the Department estimates that, at the end of the twelve months from the first application of the Act, there will be on the pension roll! nearly the number which was estimated —namely, three thousand."