PENSIONS TANGLES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 34, 10 February 1943, Page 4

PENSIONS TANGLES

RETURNED MEN'S CASES SIMPLER PROCEDURE URGED. (P.A.) DUNEDIN,. this day. A matter which affected detrimentally appeals for funds, was mentioned at the annual meeting of the Sub-zone Committee of the Provincial Patriotic Council by the chairman, Mr. A. C. Cameron. The crux of the matter, he said, was that, there were too many departments, with the inevitable result that many men became confused and dispirited because patriotic councils or committees could not straighten their triangle.

"Many of the men I refer to," said Mr. Cameron, "are not in a mental or physical condition to go from one army department to another, thence, to the National Service Department, Social Security Department, and so on, in an endeavour to find out where they stand as regards pensions or allowances. After hearing what some of these returned men have to say, one cannot fail to be impressed with the fact that red tape is still on the unrationed list so far as New Zealand is concerned. This matter is serious, and I can only express the hope that there will be more centralisation of army and other Government Departments handling the affairs of returned men, and greater simplicity of procedure. It should not be left to patriotic committees to straighten the tangles which so frequently occur." Mr. Cameron added a plea for simpler handling of widows' pensions. When a soldier was killed, the widow's allowance stopped immediately, and it was six or seven weeks before she received a pension. In• the- meantime she was expected, if she were desperate, to apply to the Social Security Department for the wherewithal to carry on. For a woman who had been upset by the death of her husband, and capped with young children, *"5 complicated machinery constituteo a problem which addrd greatly to he.." distress.