BILL AMENDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 109, 11 May 1939, Page 11

BILL AMENDED.

MINISTRY'S ACTION. Annuities For Dame Enid Lyons And Her Family. UNEXPECTED OPPOSITION. United .Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 11 a.m.) CANBERRA, this day. The Federal Ministry's bill to provide annuities of £500 a year for Dame Enid Lyons, and £500 for her children till the youngest reaches the age of 21, is to be substantially amended. The Ministry made this decision after it encountered unexpected trouble in the House of Representatives when it introduced the bill. It became apparent that the Ministry would be defeated if it pressed the measure in its present form, and at the suggestion of Mr. R. G. Menzies, Prime Minister, a committee consisting of two members of eacli party reviewed the proposal. As a result of these deliberations new proposals were placed before the members of the various parties, which will probably result in the following arrangement being accepted by the House. The annuity to Dame Enid will remain at £500, provided she does not remarry, and an annuity on a sliding scale will be paid to the children until the youngest is 16 years, not 21 years as proposed in the present bill. The amount will fall by about £85 a year until, when the youngest child reaches 16 it will disappear altogether.