SOOTH AFRICAN VETERANS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 199, 23 August 1926, Page 9

SOOTH AFRICAN VETERANS.

CONFERENCE THIS WEEK.

WAITER OF WAR PENSIONS,

AN - IMPORTANT REMIT.

Important matters regarding the -welfare °f South Afrif-an War veterans in y e w Zealand, particularly in regard to * ion s, will bo discussed in Wellington n Wednesday ami Thursday of this week, ?' !i en * ll(? anmia ' conference of South African War Veterans' Associations will be held. Xhe Auckland branch will lie represented by its president. Colonel E. G. Fraser. ]0 will bring forward a remit in respect of the pension tn be paid by the Government to veterans. At the present time the South African War pension is the equivalent of the old age pension, pi"? an additional £13, paid ffben veterans qualify for the old age pension. The principal remit, so far as the Auckland branch 'is concerned, will be the question of granting pensions to veterans before they reach that qualifying age. In putting the matter forward, Colonel Fra?er will state that his association is of the opinion that where a member's health has been seriously affected through active service in South Africa and whose earning capacity has been depreciated, his claim to a military and old age pension before he has reached the age of 05 should receive favourable consideration from the Government It is held that in the past South African veterans have been neglected, mainly because they have not put forward their claims. Up till a few years a<ro there was no organisation to look after their interests. The Maori War veterans receive a military pension as a right, at the age of 60. There was also "in existence a system of land grants to veterans of that war. Probably no other country in the world has treated its soldiers so liberally as New Zealand in regard to the returned men of the Great War in matters such as pensions for war disabilities, surgical and medical, and also economic pensions. They have also received assistance from patriotic funds. Such funds were practically unknown in South African times, and any tiiat might have been raised have been swallowed up by the tide of time, or lost.

Colonel Fraser will also bring up again this year a remit discussed at last year's conference, urging the Government to give preference to all members ,of the S.A.W.V.A. applying for loans under the Advances to Settlers and Advances to Workers' Act. The Minister of Lands has already promised that an amendment will be made to the Act, providing for preference equal to that enjoyed by discharged soldiers under the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Act. That, however, does not seem to apply to the Workers' Act. It will also be s suggested that the Government be asked to extend to South African veterans the right of appeal before an appeal board, the same as enjoyed by returned men of the Great War. An important matter will be discussed when a remit is brought up to the effect that the Government be asked to establish properly-constituted military wards at the public hospitals in the femr centres fsr the treatrasat of all exsenrke men requiring S«si*ition for (rounds or oth«r war servio* disabilities.

The suggested affiliation of the Jouth African War Veterans' AssociaJon with the Returned Soldiers' Association will be discussed, the Auckland iranch of the former approving of the proposal, subject to agreement on points of detail