PAY AND PENSIONS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2940, 28 November 1916, Page 7

PAY AND PENSIONS

A COMPARISON CRITICISED

THE TRADES COUNCIL MANIFESTO

. In a manifesto issued under the authority of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council certain statements are made coucerning the rates of pensions to soldiers in New Zealand, and comparisons are adduced •, between New Zealand and Australia in this respect which, • ,the Commissioner of Pensions points out, are misleading. In 1 the manifesto a -comparison is made between tho averago rates of pension in this country and the maximum rates in Australia. Indeed, tho comparison is less fair than this, because the - Australian figures selected ■ are those for the pensions, plus allowances added by a body callod tlio Amelioration Committee, which presumably exercises the functions discharged - by patriotic and war relief societies in this country: In Australia the pensions'scale is made np by this committee to '.£2 10s. per week for single men and £3 3s. per week for married men. But. this-is not tho Australian pensions scale* For tho pin-poses of . comparison it is unnecessary to deal witli moro than soldiery in the lowest rank, for the great majority of soldiers must'be in that rank. In New Zealand a. totally incapacitated soldier receives £1 15s. per week. If he is a married man his wife will receive also 12s. 6d. per week, and if there are children a pension of 7s. 6d. per week is paid in respect of . each child. In Australia a totally incapacitated private soldier, receives £1 10s. per week, and his wife los. per week. The rate for children is graduated in tho Australian scale. For tho first child 10s. per week is allowed, for tho second 7s. Cd., and for othei; children ss. each, per week. The New Zealand scale is slightly tho better, as ; will appear from the following comparison of the total amounts receivable as pensions in tho two countries:— • , Aus. N.Z. . - s. d. s. d. Single soldier 30 0 35 0 Soldier and wife ....... 45 0 47 G Soldier, wife, and child . 55 0 55 0 Soldier, wife, and two children ................,,62 6 62 6 Soldier, wife, aud three children 67 6 70 0 Soldier, wife, and four children 72 6 77 6 Tho New Zealand pensions allowance for widows is also more generous than in Australia. Tho, widow, of a private soldier in New Zealand gets 255. per week, but in Australia only 20s. per weok. It is true, as pointed out in tho Trades Council statement, that the averago, rate of pension to soldiers in New Zealand is about £33 per year, but tho averago is reduced by tho large number of men who aro given pensions for permanent partial disablement. A man' will get a pension for a damaged arm or hand, and if the injuries aro not such as to prevent the man from earning a livelihood at some work for which he is qualified, he is awarded something less than the maximum pension. But a soldier has only to prove total disablement to be entitled to receive the maximum pension of his rank. Special exception is tnkon to the following passage in the manifesto:— "According to the la6t report issued the total number of claims- received during the three weeks ending November 18 were 548, tho total additional pensions and allowances granted during the same period amounted to £18,733 m annual value, or an averago weekly, payment, of about 13s. per man."- The total qf £18,733 did not represent the amount distributed to 548 pensioners. Many of the 548 applications were held over for inquiry, as is the custom of the Department, and if the figures were analysed they would show that the average rate of pension awarded in that period was much more than 13s. per jnan.