PENSIONS LAW

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 33, 8 August 1934, Page 16

PENSIONS LAW

SOME ANOMALIES

MR. PARRY'S CRITICISM

In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon attention was drawn by Mr. W. E. Parry (Labour, Auckland Central) to anomalies which have crept into the operation of the Pensions Act in New Zealand.

"Ono <glaring anomaly," Mr. Parry said, "is that dealing with the provision of accumulated property. It is causing considerable hardship among a number of old-agp pensioners. For example, if a pensioner ha.s a second mortgage on a house and does not- reside in it, this is deemed to be 'accumulative property,' and tho pension is to be subject to a deduction of £1 for every £10 of accumulated property. The mortgage may be worth no more than the paper it is written on. In all cases of second mortgages they are worth nothing.at all; yet that pension is seriously affected. Again, an oldage pensioner who owns his own house may be ordered by a doctor *;o live with his son or daughter, and in the event of his letting his own !house t and renting another adjacent to' that of his family, his own house is assessed as accumulated property and his pension is cut off completely. v Surely; this was not thp intention of the legislation.

I ','Take, now, the provision dealing with imprisonment of an applicant who has served, a sentence of four months in a period of 12 months preeoding the date of the application. In my opinion, this is a complete violation of tho principles of British justice—punishment twice for the one offence. Surely this principle should bo erased from the Statute Book.. It cannot bo justified." EESTORATION OF CUTS. The decision •of tho Government not to restore the cuts in: pensions was described by Mr. Parry as unfortunate and ho predicted that tho announcement would be received by pensioners with grave dissatisfaction: The department itself, he said, was well administered, and in view-of the largo amount of money paid out, the cost of administration, less than 2 per cent., w^s extremely satisfactory. For their splendid work the Commissioner ■ and his officers wero to bo ■ commended; on all occasions assistance was given members in straightening out tho many difficulties which aroso out of the law.

Mr. Parry made a plea for people who wero unable to qualify _ for oldage pensions because of the limitation "of 25 years' residence. Couples, who had migrated from England and Australia could not qualify in New Zealand. Although old-age pensions were paid in Great Britain and all tho Dominions, a reciprocal basis had not yet boon established. Justice demanded that the course followedl with respect to war and Army pensions. should be adapted to old-age ponsions, so that tho necessary allowances could be paid by one Government on behalf of the Government responsible. Bcciprocal adjustments on bohalf of old-age pensioners wero not insurmountable, and Ik renewed tho representations he had made during the past fifteen years in tho hope that the Government would at last take action.