INTERESTING PENSION SETTLEMENT

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 184, 2 May 1929, Page 10

INTERESTING PENSION SETTLEMENT

SOLDIER RECEIVES LUMP SUM OVER £7OO TO BE PAID Dunedin, May 1. At the last meeting of the Executive of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association, Mr. E. J. Anderson reported that a satisfactory settlement had been secured of an interesting case under the War Pensions Act of 1915, the outcome of which has been the payment by the War Pensions Board of a lump sum of over £7OO as back pension due to a returned soldier who had been confined for seven years and a half to a mental institution. The case was brought under the notice of the local association by the pensioner, who was compelled to go into the institution as a result of war disability. On his discharge at the end of seven years and a half he made application to the War Pensions Board for payment of the sum which he considered was his due according to the provisions of the Act —namely, a lump sum equal to the total pension at the rate of £2 per week, which had accrued to him during his term in the institution. None of the pension, which was a total disability payment of £2 per week, was paid during the seven years and a half. The application, made after his discharge, was refused by the War Pensions Board, but he was advised that if he submitted proposals for the investment or other use of the money the board would favourably consider the application. This was done, out no payment was made, and the board finally agreed to pay “arrears in pension” at the rate of £2 a week. The pensioner, however, had no definite award made or communicated to him as to what exactly was meant by the terms, “arrears in pension,” and since he was convinced that the board had no right to withhold any of the lump sum for which he had made application, he acted upon the advice of the local executive and took the necessary steps to obtain a mandamus directing the board formally to assess the amount due and pay it to him. Mr. Anderson also stated that in a final endeavour to have the matter settled representatives of the association met the Min ister of Pensions (the Hon. T. M. Wilford). who at once secured the opinion of the Crown Law Office on the subject. The opinion of the AttorneyGeneral was apparently in agreement with that of the association, and the result was that the pensioner concerned had now received from the board the payment of a lump sum exceeding £7OO.