PROPOSED PENSIONS FOR VETERANS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 123, 11 October 1912, Page 4

PROPOSED PENSIONS FOR VETERANS.

One would have thought from the degree, of indignation Mr. Massey and his party worked themselves into last year over Sir Joseph Ward's proposals for granting pensions to Maori War veterans, that when in occupation of the political iiaddle they would have treated the veterans more kindly and liberally, but the proposals brought down by the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher in the House on Wednesday are just as inadequate and paltry as, and in some respects ever more objectionable than, the previous proposals they so strongly denounced. Instead of treating the veterans aa they deserve' ta lis treated, fairly and liberally, the new Government offer a pension of £36 per annum—payable -in full if a man is a pauper. If he happens to have been hard-working and provident and to have accumulated a little property,, the income from which is £7O or upwards, he gets nothing! If he is indigent, he will be awarded a military pension, but will lose his old-age pension. In other words, the Government's scheme' is but one changing the name of the pension from "old age" to "military." Aftel their previous pratings about recompert sing the men who had borne "the heat and burden of the day," and their vehement denunciation of the previous Government's proposals, it is extraordinary that the "Reformers" should have had the effrontery to bring down such a totally inadequate and miserable measure. No self-respecting veteran would, unless we are much mistaken, accept the dole under the cpnditions to be imposed, and unless the Government are disposed to radically alter the provisions, the measure, for all practical purposes, will remain a dead letter. Apart from the hypocrisy and inconsistency the Government have displayed, it is difficult to understand their attitude in respect to the veterans. Surely, if anyone is entitled to the consideration of the State, these old warriors are. They made great sacrifices, risked their lives and property in. the hour of the country's need, and fjy their efforts and sacrifice made possible the contented and prosperous New Zealand of to-day. The country can afford to treat them liberally. It is not a question of conferring a favor on them; a.nd this is the feature of the proposals of the Massey and Ward Governments to which we take the greatest objection. It is a question of doing a manifest duty by the old people. The Government have money and to spare for erecting Parliamentary buildings, city post offices, duplication of suburban railway lines, etc., but when it comes to rewarding the fast diminishing band of veterans responsible for protecting the foundations of the country when they were being attacked by a brave and determined foe, they neglect their obvious duty and plead, as an excuse, an empty purse. We have no hesitation in characterising the action of the Government in this matter as disgraceful and unworthy, and we trust that they will yet see their way to alter the measure and fittingly recognise the veterans' claims by granting them a straight-out pension untrammelled by -conditions of the nature suggested.