AFTER SERVICE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 294, 12 December 1942, Page 6

AFTER SERVICE

PENSION ANOMALIES

UNSATISFACTORY POSITION

There is a feeling of unrest and dissatisfaction on the part of members of the Armed Forces, who have fulfilled their obligations, in connection with pensions, and the position appears likely to be accentuated when more men return from service. It is felt that there is a lack of consideration and that the whole pension system wants both remodelling and revising.

The case can be cited in Auckland of one young married man who held a good position in civil life. He has been discharged from the forces, but on account of injury cannot yet resume civil occupation. He has been given a pension of 10/ a week and in addition receives 35/ a week from Social Security. For the present he has to face the task of living on £2 5/ weekly. An appeal has been made, but it will not be heard until early next year. This is not an isolated cas".

The Auckland branch of the Second N.Z.E.F. Association has the question of hardship under consideration and is trying to find a remedy. The president, Mr. E. L. Thwaites, cited a number of cases which had come under the notice of the association. One was that of a soldier with a wife and two children, who received full pension for a period, then while still using two sticks for support, his pension was reduced to 15/ a week, plus 7/6 for his wife and 3/9 for the children, making a total of 26/3 a week. An appeal was lodged, but the soldier had to wait nearly three months for a hearing, when the full pension was restored. However, for a time he had to get on as best he could. Leave Without Pay The second instance given by Mr. Thwaites was that of a soldier still under treatment, whose period of three months on pay had expired. He was placed on leave without pay, to later draw a full pension. For a period of six weeks he had neither pay nor pension, and on application to the Department was informed that he could go on social security of £1 a week until the pension arrived. Mr. Thwaites added that there was the case of another man who had returned two months ago from Egypt and was still under treatment, and on pay. He received 35/, plus 17/6 per week as a subsidy. As he had to live out and attend hospital as an cut-patient, he paid rent for a room and had to buy the ordinary civilian necessities, including clothing. Before leaving Egypt he paid £50 of his own money to the army pay office. He holds a receipt, and has a credit entry in his pay book for the amount, having been informed that the money would be in New Zealand before him. After eight weeks he was still unable to draw on his money. He could not get patriotic assistance, and was not eligible for social security. He had to take work to keep going until he could get his own money back. Promises Made Mr. Thwaites said that the cases quoted were by no means isolated ones, and they illustrated some ol' the reasons for the great gap between the promises made to the men on leaving New Zealand and the fulfilment, or rather the lack of fulfilment, which had faced a number of men on their return. Apart altogether from the inherent weaknesses of handling returned men, there were, in his opinion, far too many Departments taking a hand in the welfare of the soldier, with the result that there had apparently been great confusion and no responsible control. So far there were comparatively few of the men back from service, but dissatisfaction was rife, and drastic reform of the pension system was an urgent necessity.