HIGHER PENSIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1920, Page 6

HIGHER PENSIONS.

DEMANDED BY E.S.A. INCREASE FROM £2 TO £3 10s PER WEEK. The. question of demanding a substantial increase in war pensions in consequence of the increased cost of living waß discussed at the meeting of the executive of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association on Tuesday. A letter was read from the Minister of Defence, stating, in reply to the resolution of conference, urging the estahlisnment, of plus percentages for disablement pensions, that effect could be given to the proposal only by an amendment of the. law, and upon this question the Government had not yet come to a conclusion. The chairman (Dr. E. Boxer) said the country would have to consider the whole question of asking a man suffering from total disability to live on £2 a week. Hitherto the Pensions Board had adopts ! the practice of over-assessing liabilites, but now that the great majority of these cases had reached normality they would have to be- reviewed, and lower pensions would be granted in consequence. That meant that the annual war pensions bill must fall considerably soon. No doubt many of the men would "buck." The more he thought of the plus percentage proposals the less he liked it as being tivj ticklish. He thought it would be better to work for a 50 per cent, rise in war pensions all round by increasing the present maximum disability rate from £2 to £.l per week. Mr. W. E. Leadley (Christchurcli) agreed. He thought it was a mistake to go for plus percentages; they should go for an all-round increase on account of the cost of living. .He moved:— "That headquarters be instructed to open up negotiations with the Government, with a view to increasing the present maximum pension of £2 to £3 10s per week, and that subsidiary pensions be increased pro rata." The motion was carried unanimously. The chairman commented that this w;is the best thing they had done. The whole question was whether a man totally disabled should be asked to live on £2 a week. He could not do it. Mr. R. J. F. Aldrich: "They force him to work, and crack him up."