PENSIONS VOTE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 12

PENSIONS VOTE.

ESTIMATES, £6,769,423.

INVALIDITY ANOMALIES.

CASE FOR TPE WIDOW. ] (Br Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Friday. Pensions of every description weje discussed by the House of Representatives to-day during the consideration of the vote of the Pensions Department, which provides for the expenditure of £6,760,423 for the current year.

Anomalies in the Invalidity Pension Act were mentioned by Mr. W. A. Bodkin (National, Otago Central). He asked the Minister in charge of the Department, Mr. Parry if he would give the House some idea of what was to be contained in the proposed amendment to the Act. No social service was more justified than that dealing with the aged and infirm, and he did not think that any taxpayer would object to money being expended on their behalf.

Mr. J. G. Cobbe (National, Orua) said he did not think there would be much opposition to the payment of pensions but the expenditure was mounting up and the provision was being made for the payment of over £6,000,000 this year. It was over £3,000,000 in excess to the amount voted in 1935-36. Everybody was in sympathy with pension schemes and he was sorry that he could not do more when he was in charge of the Department.

Mr. S. G. Smith (National, New Plymouth) wanted to know when the widow's pension was to be made a real widow's pension. The Minister: Any age? Mr. Smith said that he was referring to the pension being granted at any ago when the widow did not qualify for the invalidity pension and was incapable of earning a livelihood.

In reply t*ie Minister said that the expenditure on pensions had increased by over £3,000,000 in the life of the present Government. He made no apology for that. This was one form of national expenditure that was fully justified. Further increases would be made in the future, on a scale bearing a direct relation to the improvement of conditions in the country. Unless that were done the people who had played a big part" in raising the prosperity of the Dominion would not receive Justice In their declining years. Referring to invalidity pension, Mr. Parry said great difficulty was experienced in determining the question of complete invalidity and this gave rise to the problem of determining the degree of invalidity. A person invalided for life was entitled to a pension and so was the person who was incapacitated through temporary invalidity. The Minister added that the question of the widow's pension had been raised and this was a matter that required a good deal of consideration. One of the greatest problems was that of axing the age at which a widow would qualify for a pen-| sion.

The vote was passed.