R.S.A. To See Minister

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30879, 12 October 1965, Page 22

R.S.A. To See Minister

The treatment being handed out to aged war veterans and the amount of buck-pass-ing between the Government departments over the use of the Special Assistance Fund had to be stopped, Mr A. S. Farrar told last night’s meeting of the Christchurch church Returned Services Association. Mr Farrar said the Social Security Department, the War Pensions Board, the Health Department and the North Canterbury Hospital Board were all involved. The Minister (Mr A. E. Kinsella) had said the special assistance fund was not a charity.

“There was £200,000 in the fund but the trouble began when you wanted something from it then you would wait till hell froze over before you got anything,” Mr Farrar said. Five association members had recently spent time m private convalescent homes, one for 19 weeks, another for 18, a third for 14, a fourth for nine and the fifth for 12.

The hospital board had not been able to accommodate them.

Charges in private homes were such that even after the maximum amount had been met from an aged veteran’s pension there was still a substantial amount to pay.

In two instances the Returned Services' Association and the National Patriotic Fund had met the payments but they could only do so for short periods without exhausting their funds. For too long the Returned Services’ Association and the National Patriotic Fund had had to meet the difference, either the Minister was being insincere in his comments or the department was not carrying out its instructions, he said. Men Single i The men concerned were single, unable to care for themselves and aged between 70 and 80. “It is about time the Government accepted its responsibility,” Mr Farrar said. The association chairman (Mr D. Barrett) said the Hospital Board had yesterday made accommodation available for two of the men whom they accepted as being hospital cases. Mr J. Green said either the Minister was insincere or he was not receiving the information. Mr G. McMillan said the R.S.A. had undertaken to look after returned men but it could not do’so out of its own resources, homes for

veterans were full and a pension would not pay for a private home for men who were not hospital cases. As to sending the men to Tuarangi at Ashburton, members of the association executive would not go there themselves and others should not be asked to go. The veterans should be kept in their own environment. “Is the special fund to grow till it chokes the Government?” he said. Mr Barrett said the National Patriotic Fund had provided for 425 men at a cost of £jm and had done a good job. Still Room However, there was still room for Government assistance. The country was nearing a peak period for assisting aged veterans of World War I as the men approached their seventies. Mr McMillan said the matter should be placed before Mr Kinsella personally and it was for him to say what the position was.

The delays in obtaining the subsidy for men in private : homes would then be obviated. If it were placed before him he could not pass the buck. The association meeting decided representations on the matter of the Special Assistance Fund should be made to Mr Kinsella.