ALLOWANCES FOR WIDOWS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 137, 9 June 1917, Page 11

ALLOWANCES FOR WIDOWS.

i XPy Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. The Advisory Board of the Patriotic Societies urged recently that the receipt of a full old age pension of 10/ a week ] should not debar the widowed mother of a soldier from receiving the military separation allowance of 7/ a week. The regulations provide that if the income of a mother, apart from the soldier's allotment/exceeds 7/ a week, the separation allowance cannot be paid. The Minister for Defence has replied that the concession proposed would involve placing mothers in a better financial position than before their sons' enlistment, and estimated the mother's income prior to the soldier's enlistment as follows:—Old age pension, £26, and possibly free board provided by the Boldier, which could be added, but this would not exceed in value £26 a year, making a total of £52. The experience of the Wellington War Relief Association and other patriotic societies does not support this official contention that free board, presumably with lodging added, is worth only £28 a year. It holds that the cost of" board and lodging of the cheapest kind under the present conditions, is from 15/ to £1 a week, and allowances have had to be based on the recognition of that fact. I