PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 16, 13 October 1917, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

.* . LAND FOR SOLDIERS THE PUBLIC WORKS ESTIMATES DEVELOPMENT OF WATER POWER The Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m. WAR PENSIONS. SIR FRANCIS BELL moved the second reading of the War Pensions Amendment Bill. He explained its provisions. The Hon. R. MOORE said he regarded tho Bill as a fair and even generous measure. Tho Hon. J. T. PAUL said ho had jyen glad to notice a. very great improvement in the administration of the pensions system. The Bill generally was a good one, though he would have bked to sea it wado more generous in certain respects. The increased rates ought to come into operation directly the Bill was passed. The pensions being paid td some people at tho present time were not adequate, and the disabled' soldiers and their dependants should not be required to wait until January 1 before receiving tho increased rates. The Hon. A. T. MAGINNITY said that the pensions scheme as amended was (he best in the world. The Dominion was treating the soldiers with a. great deal of liberality, and he thought the soldiers should be reminded sometimes that they had not fought merely for the people who had stayed at homo. They had fought for themselves, for their Empire, and their children. They had been called upon to fight, a? men of other generations had been called, because the war came in the years of their strength and fitness. The nation was grateful to the soldiers, but it was not just to suggest that tho men had fought purely in a spirit of self-sacrifice. The Hon. T. CARSON said he regarded the Bill as over-generous. Some, families would actually benefit financially by the loss of their breadwinners, and tho pensions scheme would tend to produce an idle claes.

The Hon. .T. BARR expressed general approval of the Bill. SIR WILLIAM. HALL-TONES did not think Ihe Bill went far enough in all cases. The country cou'd afford to do full justice to all the soldiers ami their dependants. The Hon. W. EARNSHAW --aid the Government had gone as far as it could go with prudence. The pensions system would t>? subject to review as occasion demanded in the years to come.

SIR FRANCIS HELL raid it conic) not be (leniefl that Hie Government had a right to fix a limit beyond which expenditure on pensions or anything else could not go. It was easy, and often popular, for a Government to ha generous. But Ministers who were worthy of bearing responsibility must look to the future as well as the present, and must keep in mind the iinanci.il capacity of the Dominion as well as the requirements of the soldiers. The rates proposed in the Bill were the most liberal in the world. The suggestion that the new rates should be made retrospective was simply preposterous. He would like to warn the country against the danger of creating a class of veterans who would claim pensions not because :hcy had been injured in the service but simply because" they had fought. Demands for pensions merely on tlio ground of service had been made in the past. The recognition of such a principle on the present occasion would create a burden that would lie stupendous and unending. The Bill was put through Committee, read a third time, and passed. The . Council adjourned at 5.10 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday.