SOLDIERS' DEPENDENTS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 136, 5 December 1918, Page 8

SOLDIERS' DEPENDENTS

FREE HOSPITAL TREATMENT. At a meeting of the Federation-of New Zealand Patriotic War Relief Societies Advisory Board (his morning, the following letter was read from the Minister of Public Health regarding free hospital treatment for soldiers' dependents:— "The Government has decided that free treatment should be given to the ■ wives I' and children of members.of tho New Zealand' Expeditionary, Force pit active service, no matter what the financial circumstances of the soldier may-be; and also to the parents, sisters, and brothers of such soldiers if such' relatives were solely dependent upon tho soldier prior to enlistment. In cases where the treati ment, had commenced before the soldier left Now Zealand, or where the soldier Had been killed, or had returned to New: Zealand before treatment had concluded,: I have decided that if any part of' thej treatment was undertaken whilst the soldier was absent from New Zealand on active service the Government would pay: the expense. All cases other than those mentioned above must be dealt with by the Hospital Boards on their merits. The boards, in view of their local knowledge, .are the best judges of the merits of a case, and havo full pbwerto grant treatment either free- or at reduced rates if they think fit." . ■ ■ ■ . '

' It was resolved that the dependents of soldiers who have served at the front and returned to New Zealand and still undischarged should be entitled to free hos-, pital treatment.