WAR GRATUITY ACCOUNT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXIV, Issue 14049, 2 May 1946, Page 5

WAR GRATUITY ACCOUNT

DISCOUNT OF DEBT PAY3IENTS

ROLE OF REHABILITATION DEPARTMENT The manner in which the Rehabilitation Department assists ex-ser-vicemen wishing to pay approved types of debts out of their war gratuity account and still obtain the five per cent discount on such transactions is explained in a statement from the department. • This statement is in amplification of a statement recently made on the same subject by the Acting-Minister of Finance, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan. "Creditors envisaged fall into two distinct groups,” says the statement. “The first comprises Government Departments to whom an ex-service-man might owe a sum which he wishes to clear, and the second, private firms or individuals. In the first case the ex-serviceman approaches the department concerned. In the. second instance he appoints the Postmaster-General, or rather the local postmaster as his agent to pay his creditor the sum specified. “Where debts are owed to private firms or individuals, Ministerial authority for approval or otherwise has been delegated to the Rehabilitation Department. An ex-service-man wishing to pay such .debts and still obtain his five per cent bonus must, first apply to the local rehabilitation office, armed with an invoice from the firm or person to whom he owes the money. When his application is approved, the Post Office is notified to pay the debt, 95 per cent of which is liquidated out of the serviceman’s war gratuity account and the remaining live per cent from the War Expenses Account.”

The statement recapitulates the types of debts to which the concession applies. These, provided for under Clause 10 of the War Service Gratuities Regulations'of 1945, are: For the purpose of purchasing a home, or furniture or any other real or personal property for the investor, or for the purpose of establishing the investor in any business, profession, trade or occupation. Full details of procedure have not been.completed, concludes the state-ment,-but these should be ready within a few days.