EASING BURDEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 184, 5 August 1936, Page 8

EASING BURDEN.

PENSION INCREASES.

MANY. NEW CLAIMANTS

WIVES LEFT BY HUSBANDS,

The provisions made in the Budget for increasing pensions, reducing the age at which women become eligible, and providing for deserted wives and families. is welcomed by all social workers, and by the organisations upon which pressing appeals for assistance have been made. Ihe Hospital Board, which is the chief institution dealing with distress in Auckland, is expected to benefit considerably. The secretary, Mr. 11. A. Sommerville, said that while he had not examined the proposals thoroughly, it appeared that the board would get some relief from the heavy demands hitherto made for assistance. Against the increases in pensions, however, had to he set the increases in the cost of living. The amount added to pensions, in some cases, would possibly not cover the rise in the price of food, clothing and shelter. Where the board should benefit was in the reduction of the residential age to qualify for the old age pension from 25 to 20 years, which would mean that many elderly people would be taken off the board's hands. Again, the proposal to make women eligible at the age of GO, instead of 65. for' the full old age pension, should provide some relief to the board. Relief Figures. Mr. Sommerville said the number of cases dealt with by the board last year, in which relief was granted was '521-1, and the persons affected 11,759. The cost of the relief granted amounted to £53,624. Of this amount £29,483 was expended in stores. £11.648 in rent and cash allowances, and £3909 in providing board anil lodgin~s. including children boarded out. These' were the main items.

The provision in the new legislation which would enable deserted wives with dependent children to qualify for pensions on the same basis as widows, Mr. Sommerville said, should further ease the burden on the board. It was a provision which would have to be very carefully gone into, and he was not prepared to comment until ho know exactly what would be required of an applicant before she had proved she was deserted. The board last year had under the heading "Desertion of Breadwinner." dealt with 501 cases, affecting 1663 persons.

A Court officer who is in close touch with cases which come under the heading of "maintenance," in commenting upon the provision dealing with deserted wives, said everything depended upon how the term "deserted wives" would be interpreted. He took it there would have to be undeniable proof that a husband had deserted his wife before she became eligible for a pension. It might be that proof of a Court order for maintenance against the husband would have to be given, also that every possible avenue had been explored by the applicant and the police to trace the husband. Fewer Divorces? A solicitor mentioned that the granting of a pension to a deserted wife and her children would possibly lead to a reduction in the number of divorce eases, and he pictured Auckland's judges having a much quieter time on "Divorce Day" than hitherto. He said that a fairly big percentage of cases which came before the Divorce Court were based upon the ground of desertion, but if "'deserted wives were to be given a pension of £1 a week, with 10/ a head for eacli child, many wives whose husbands had left them would think a. second time before seeking a divorce, because it might be held that a divorcee was not a wife.

"It is unquestionably a step in the right direction," said Mrs. C. Bates, secretary of the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, in referring more particularly to the clause which makes provision to grant a pension to a deserted wife and her children. "We have some appalling where we know beyond all doubt that the husbands are out of the country, but it is impossible to trace them, and the poor wives and kiddies are thrown upon charity.