WAR VETERANS BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 245, 16 October 1935, Page 12

WAR VETERANS BILL.

AMENDMENTS SUGGESTED. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL'S SUPPORT. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday Moving tho second reading of the \\ Veterans' Allowances Bill in the IjCgW live Council to-day, the Hon. R. Maste Leader of the Council, said the bill w a genuine effort on the part of the (»<> ernment to nioet cases that came befi> it from time to time. War pensions or the country about £2i)Q.000 annual!, but there was an additional respond bility. The Hon. W. Perry (Wellington) we! corned the bill as president of the Ne\ Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association which had a membership of 20,000. H said that in rccent years 20 per cent o the unefnployed had been formei soldiers, though, of course, many were in receipt of pensions. The bill remove* the difficulty of proving that disability was due to war service. A weaknes in the bill was that it did not includ men who served with British force other than New Zealand. Twenty thousand ex-Imperjal soldiers Immigrated to New Zealand since the wa and some were breaking down in healt 1 Sir? James Allen (Otago) said h thought it was hardship that the per sion should not apply "to wives livin; apart from their hsubands. This wa penalising children, too. Replying, Mr. Masters said it had always been recognised that each country should look after the pensions of its own soldiers. If the finances of the country would at any time permit the Government would favourably consider a proposal to include ex-Imperial and other British soldiers resident in New Zealand. He agreed it was difficult to argue against what had been said in regard to wives separated from husbands. "I will carry your wishes to the Minister of Defence in the belief and hope that the bill will be amended," Mr. Masters said. He would also make recommendations to the Minister in connection ■with the date of pension payments. The bill was passed.