SOLDIERS' PENSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 261, 4 November 1935, Page 6

SOLDIERS' PENSIONS.

For some time now I have seen letters to the editor about widows' pensions, but what about the returned soldiers' pensions? Are they all going to benefit by what was passed a little while ago, that every soldier who cannot work through war disabilities will receive a pension? My husband is unable to work, having heart and nerve trouble, yet he onlygets 10/ a week and cannot get any more. I applied on his behalf for more, as it is impossible to live on this amount, but I regret to say that he was turned down fiat. It does not matter how many certificates he gets, the Pensions Board will go on tlieir own doctors' reports. The returned soldiers are not treated fairly. After taking about ten years off their lives they are offered a miWly sum of 10/ for their "burned out lives." And what about the wife who stands by her husband to save him being put in a mental hospital? She is the one who is making the sacrifice, often pulling down her own health, as I have done. There is no support for her included in the pensions. She is like the captain of a sinking ship, just standing by until such time as the ship sinks. Only for the Hospital Board I don't know where we would be. I think it is a disgrace to all concerned that returned soldiers should have to go there, when the Pensions Board should be looking after them. My husband does not benefit through relief, as they won't give him anything (not even sustenance). The secret reports from the Pensions Board doctors are not fair to the returned men, who are entitled to help, as outside doctors' certificates show. Ko medical man would hand a returned man, or any other person for that matter, a certificate if it was not genuine. IRISH.