INCREASE WANTED

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 6, 7 July 1926, Page 10

INCREASE WANTED

OLD AGE AND OTHER PENSIONS

VIEWS OF MEMBERS

Tho production, of the Pensions Boport in tho House of Representatives yesterday precipitated a discussion on tha pensions system. Mr. W. E. Parry (Auckland Central) ■urged the Government to increase the old ago' and the pension for tho blind by half a crown a week. To thus raise these pensions to tho Australian standard would involvo about £100,000, pera Mr. Ef'M'Koen (Wellington South): "Very much less." Continuing, Mr.. Parry said that the Minister of Pensions and thoPumo Minister had said a.lot about invalidity. pensions. „ , .-, "Contributory pensions," remarked the Minister (the Hon. G. J. AnderBon). "MINISTEE UNSYMPATHETIC" Mr Parry said that ho was not prepared to discuss that matter—ho .was concerned about invalidity pensions. People who could not earn their living through illness had to live somehow, and the State should face the position fairly and squally. The people he was B peaking about should be supported b> the State. Mr. Parry sr-pealod for an increased miner's pension, although he ,aid that he knew the Minister was unsympathetic. If the Minister wou not increase the pension, then he should raise the miner's widow's1 pension to the same amount as that received by tt sinflo man. . Mr W A. Veitch (Wanganui) spoke on the question of . attributability in connection with tho payment of pensions to returned soldiers. He said that in his electorate thero were a largo number of men whoso health had •broken down, and who were outside the seopo of tho pensions system because, they could not attribute their condition directly to war service. As so many men who had been only slightly gassed were now breaking down, ho believed that a now position was developing, and he considered that it should bo faced. Mr. Veitch touched on the question of pensions for occupational diseases, which, he urged, should receive consideration. Mr. W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) said that, while thero wero still some anomalies to be adjusted in the pensions law, he thought there was also room for the contributory scheme. Referring to incapacitated returned soldiers, ho suggested that some special provision should be made for genuine cases, in which they had been known to have seen service at the front for at least a reasonable time, and wero not receiving pensions. A lot of dissatisfaction was being caused through pensioners' allowances being reduced when they wont to stay with relatives or friends. Tho Minister: "Not in New Zealand." The speaker' maintained that there trero cases of tho kind. Tho Loader of the Opposition (Mr. E. B. Holland) spoke principally upon tho subject of miners' pensions, and pointed out tho adverse position of the minors' phthisis victim with a family. He received only 35s per week, and received no allowance on account of his •wife and children, and was threatened ■with the loss of his pension if ho did any work. Mr. Holland submitted there was the strongest possible case for such pensioners to receive sufficient to enablo them, to live, in a .decent standard of comfort, during, their few years which romainod before death would claim them. Very often tho victims were quite young men with families dopendent upon them, and they were greatly handicapped by tho inadequacy of their pension. Mr. Holland instanced the case of a man with a family whoso widow drew more in pension after his death than; while ho was living. Could there be any greater anomaly than that the family pension after doath should bo more than before1? Tho speaker also submitted that applicants for poiision should bo examined by Xxays, so as to ascertain definitely whether they were totally incapacitated. Where examination was mado by a doctor there was a possibility of tho applicants being deprived of what was their just and proper due. Mr. Holland appealed for a substantial increase for both married and single minor pensioners, and also for widows. Ho also maintained that the State should support the dependants of deserting husbands until tho latter were located and compelled to support their families. VENEREAL DISEASE OASES. Mr. A. E. Harris (W.iitomata) referred to tho extremely hard lot of exsoldiers suffering from venereal disease, who had been refused not only pensions, but also treatment, although they wore suffering as a result of their war service. They wero sent away in good health, and were unfortunate enough to get into trouble. Possibly that was their own fault, but that was not the point. It was not creditable to the Government or the Parliament of Now Zealand that tho obligation to these men should not bo recognised. The Government was not doing its duty to them. The patriotic societies could do nothing because the men were not recognised as entitled to pensions. Mr. Harris asked what was being dono with the canteen funds and .the interest derived from them that thoso moneys were not being used for tho relief of such cases. The funds belonged to tho men themselves, and not one penny piece had been spent bo far as ho knew upon them. "I do appeal to the Government," he said, "to look upon this matter in a humano way." Tho Hon. D. Buddo (Kaiapoi) pointed cut that exceptional pension cases had not been investigated by a Committee of tho House for many years, and referred to specific cases in which he considered further assistance should be given. The speaker feared that there would bo objection to the compulsory contributory pension scheme, on account of tho rigid objection in tho minds of British people to tho principlo of compulsion. Sir John Lnlco (Wellington North) referred to tho administration of war funds and the decision of tlio recent conferonco on the subject. Tho patriotic funds were not meant to take tho place of pensions, and ho said it was not fair to suggest that they should be used in that way. The funds could be used for supplementing a pension, but there wero many men not receiving a pension who had to bo given assistance from tho war funds: Tho w:u» ■funds' amounted to about £120,000, itnd it was sought to grant relict for its long as possible without touching ■the capital. Wellington's fund would Jast for about ten years, so it was estimated, and it was a fact that there were even Crimean veterans receiving assistance from tho fund. Ho emphasised, however, that the war funds wero only supplementary to tho pensions eystom, and that they were not meant ■to take its place so far as soldiers wero concerned. Mr. E. J. Howard (G'hristehureli fiouth) stressed the need for malting better provision for sufferers from miners' phthisis, and said that care would have to lie taken to sec that immigrants received proper consideration in ill. mnttcv of. pensions. MrriCULTY ABOUT DISABILITY. Tlio Minister of Justice (tho Hon. I\ J. Rullestou) referred to the difficulty

of ascertaining whether a man's disability was due to war service or not. The Act of 1D23 provided that if a disability occurred within seven years of his discharge and thero was no reasonable evidence to connect it with war service the presumption should be that the disability was caused by the war. Mr. Atmore: "That is not always carried out." Tho Minister pointed out that the right of appeal could bo exorcised. There was no reason, then, why tho men should not recoive every consideration. Ho had been informed that there were not many cases of*""the kind referred to by Mr. Harris. Venereal disease cases wero regarded as cases of wilful misconduct, which could not bo recognised under tho Act. Mr. J. A. Lee (Auckland East): "Why not alter tho Act?" Mr. Rolleston said that tho term wilful misconduct was not . peculiar to the Pensions Act alone, but it also affected tho Workers' Compensation Act. If it was struck out it would open up a wider field. Tho Leader of the Opposition: "Is there not room for interpretation of the term wilful misconduct?" The Minister said that apparently the Pensions Board had decided that venereal disease cases did hot como within tho limits of the Act. Any pensions scheme, he said, must be established on i certain definite principles, and there would always bo certain hard cases which unfortunately wero not met by the law. On the whole tho New Zealand pensions system worked satisfactorily, and his experience was that it was being administered most sympathetically. Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central) said he believed that the law provided for children receiving the full benefit of a pension when a widow died, but no definite provision was made as to what the guardians of those children should receive. The Department in the last twelvo months had taken up the attitudo that tho 7s 6d for the widow would not bo passed on to tho guardians. Parliament had never intended that, he felt sure, and tho law should be amended to put the matter right. Tho Minister of Pensions (tho Hon. G. J. Anderson) stated that ho regretted Mr. Parry's remarks, as he had every sympathy for tho miners. The mining industry, however, was only one industry that had to bo' considered. Miners' widows with children could receive a pension. He held out no hope for women who were deserted, as another Department could look after them. Before concluding, the Minister said he agreed that X-ray examinations arc necessary in miners' phthisis cases.