H.—lB

5

Since the Act came into force in 1911 there has been a total of 1,865 claims lodged, of which number 1,448 were established, 1,313 being still on the roll. These figures show that of the 8,500 widows between the ages of 20 and 55 who were shown by the last report on the working of the Act —namely, parliamentary paper F.-9 —to be approximately those from whose ranks the pensioners were likely to be drawn, some 15 per cent, are actually drawing the pension. This percentage, however, is not submitted as one that is at all stable, inasmuch as it will be observed from the table relating to the ages of pensioners (Table V) that there are some 36 pensioners drawn from the higher-aged group of 56 to 65, inclusive, and, further, there are no statistics available, or likely to be, to show how many widows are being created each year at the various ages. Of the 10,900 widows aged 65 aud over who were in the Dominion at the date of the last census, there are 4,906 on the old-age-pension roll, or 10 more than last year. Of the 657 admitted to the roll during the year, 418, or 63 per cent., were Europeans born in New Zealand, 16 were Maoris, and only 7 were of foreign extraction. Of the 166 rejected claims during the year, some 76 represent cases where the income of the applicant was in excess of the amount allowed by law. The total families of the new pensioners range from 1 to 18, and the number of children under 14 years of age in one family from 1 to 10, the averages being: Total family, 5; family under 14 years of age, 244. The averages last year were 5 and 243. Details are embodied in Table XIII of the appendix. The number of children to date on whoso account the pension has been granted is 3,527, and the total children of pensioners 7,297, thus : — Number of CM]d T , SaTed S ™*« S - Child ™- -1911-12 ... ... ... ... 791 1,923 3,982 1912-13 ... ... ... . . 657 1,604 3,315 Totals ... ... ... 1,448 3,527 7,297 The number of claims lodged in each district during the year is shown in Table X. Military Pensions. —The actual claims under this head recorded to the 31st March totalled 788, of which number 577 were granted. A detailed reference to these has already been made earlier in this report. Annual Payments. Old-age Pensions. —The gross payments under this head during the year totalled £415,760 14s. lid., an increase on the figures of the previous year of £9,504 18s. 7d., the smallest increase in any year since the pension was increased to .£26 per annum. A comparative statement showing the variation in the payments in each year since the Act was passed appears in Table XII. After deducting the sum of £868 os. 9d., being refund of overpaid instalments made during the year, and making allowance for payments held up on account of some informality, the net charge against the Consolidated Fund for the } r ear stands at £414,861 Us. 10d., to which has been applied a credit of £17,824 3s. lid., being revenue from the national-endowment lands. The total amount credited to date from the endowment-land revenue is as follows :— £ s. d. 1910 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 20,142 12 7 1911 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 16,758 9 8 1912 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 18,709 11 6 1913 ... ... ' ... ... ... ... ... 17,824 3 11 Total ... ... ... ... ... £73,434 17 8 The grand total paid in old-age pensions to date now stands at £3,972,421. The gross payments and the cost per head of the population in each year are as follows : — Grose Payments P lation Cost,per on Aooount of ,VT , Head of Pensions. &t ® nd of Population. £ * ear - s. d. Three months ended 31st March, 1899 (at £18) 3,124 746,676 0 1 Year ended 31st March, 1900 (at £18) ... 157,342 758,617 4 1 1901 „ ... 197,292 772,719 5 1 1902 „ ... 207,468 789,994 5 3 1903 „ ... 210,140 814,842 5 2 1904 „ ... 203,164 838,954 4 10 1905 „ ... 195,475 864,971 4 6 1906 (at £18 and £26)... 254,367 889,968 5 8 1907 (at £26) ... 314,184 913,873 6 10 1908 „ ... 325,199 937,587 6 11 1909 „ ... 336,760 968,313 6 11 1910 „ ... 362,496 987,480 7 4 1911 „ ... 383,393 1,008,468 7 7 1912 „ ... 406,256 1,031,500 7 10 1913 „ ... 415,761 1,061,748 7 10 Total ... £3,972,421