KING'S SOLDIER'S PENSION

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 122, 19 November 1931, Page 12

KING'S SOLDIER'S PENSION

{To the Editor.) Sir, —".Ex-Begular's" letter- and your explanation that he is liable to pay tax of 3d in the £ on his Imperial pension is of interest to many. Will you obtain ah official statement and publish it for general information why the New Zealand authorities refuse to pay exchange on Paymaster-General warrants for amounts paid to Imperial pensioners in New Zealand? Cost of living is higher owing to the exchange, and the New Zealand Treasury* is at the present time making 10s on moneys due to Imperial pensioners. Hoping you will give this letter prominence, as, little as the amount may be, in these times of hardship and lack of work the poor pensioners should not suffer to swell the pocket of the New Zealand Treasury.—l am, etc., ONE WHO SUFFERS. [This matter was referred by the Unemployment Board to the Treasury, which made the following reply:—"lmperial pensions have, by agreement with the^British Government, been paid' in New Zealand at par for a great many years regardless o£ the rates of exchange ruling from time to time, and though the exchanges are at present against New Zealand, there have been times when the reverse has been the case. Concerning the reference to cost of living, it is pointed out that the retail price indexes have shown a substantial fall since 1929 notwithstanding the rise in the exchange."—Ed.]