PENSIONS APPEAL BOARD

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21710, 18 February 1936, Page 16

PENSIONS APPEAL BOARD

TO THE EDITOR 07 TftE PRESS. Sir, —I read in “The Press” this morning that out of a total number of To cases heard by the Appeal Board, which has just concluded its sittings in Christchurch, only 25 were upheld. Why? Do you not think it is about time this board was dispensed with, given its running shoes, and its joint salaries distributed amongst the* men .and their dependents who. fought tor it both nobly and well, without all this preamble and nonsense. . Imagine being greeted with the cheerless words, “Your case has been dismissed; not sufficient evidence to prove you are now suffering as a direct result of the war,” In the case I was interested in myself, the case was dismissed, despite the substantial evidence brought forward to prove that the soldier in question was a wreck of his former self, from the time of his return until his death at the early age of 50 years. This was due solely to the privations and sufferings he had endured while’ on active service. His widow was advised as follows, “Alter giving further consideration, to your case, it is agreed that your husband’s death was not reasonably attributed to the war." What a fiasco! This soldier was a veteran of both the South‘African’and the Great War. May the soldiers in New Zealand find comfort in the present Labour Government, which pledged Itself to see that all soldiers and their dependents would be adequately provided for in the future; the mere fact of a man fighting for his country was all sufficient. Hats off to our secretary, Mr Willcox, who puts up such a fight for his men, despite many disappointments.— Yours, etc., DISGUSTED. February 17, 1936.