CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 59, 9 August 1940, Page 2

CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

All Returned Men To Be X-Rayed

or airman who returns from this war will be X-rayed, medically examined, and passed fit before he is discharged from the forces at the conclusion of hostilities. H «ss New Zealand soldier, sailor, This statement was made recently by ~the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, who went on to say that no man would be discharged from the Forces until he had a clean bill of health. After the last war no such action was taken by the Government with the result that many men who broke down afterwards as a result of war strain found that they could not obtain pensions without some difficulty arising, because they had been classed fit when they were discharged. Mr. Jones stated that to-day there were 25,923 war pensioners and war veterans and that the annual pensions bill amounted to £1,886,537, which was almost equal to the cost in 1921. A recent Act provides for an increase in pensions. For instance, the original Act provided that a totally disabled private returning from the last war received 35/- a week, plus 12/6 a week for his wife and 5/- for each child. Since then the pension has been increased and at the present time such a man is entitled to £2 a week for himself, 30/- economic pension, £1 for his wife, and 10/- for each child, making a total of £5 a week. Corresponding increases apply to all other ranks in the service. Mr. Jones said he thought that stich provision for disabled men was better than that paid in any other part of the British Commonwealth. He felt that the Government had been generous to men who had suffered in the last war.

Another recent improvement to the Pensions Act provides that the date of an ex-soldier’s marriage makes no difference to his wife’s eligibility to draw a pension, nor to that of the children of the marriage. Previously no wife or child of a marriage taking place after July 31, 1936, was eligible for a pension. The only exception retained is that of a " death-bed " marriage which means that if the death of an ex-soldier occurred within one year after the date of marriage the widow or child of that marriage would not be regarded as a dependant and would not be entitled to a pension under the Act.