PENSION RIGHTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20958, 4 December 1942, Page 4

PENSION RIGHTS

RETURNED SOLDIERS CASE OF UNFIT MEN QUESTION IN HOUSE (P.R.) WELLINGTON, Dec. 3. A question put to the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, in the House of Representatives to-day by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Nat., Waitomo) was whether the Minister would assure the House that when a man graded 1 for the army, and sent overseas with the Expeditionary Force he would not be denied the usual war pension when he returned injured. Mr. Broadfoot quoted a case of a member of the. Expeditionary Force who, he said, had been graded 1 and had returned medically unfit after two years of service overseas. He had been granted a pension for two months and then it was cancelled because the injury was alleged to be only an aggravation of a defect existing before he was medically examined. The Minister said that when a man returned from overseas his case was dealt with .by the War; Pensions Board and if the man was not satisfied with the decision he could appeal to the War Pensions Appeal Board, a tribunal consisting of Mr. Justice Frazer, a judge of the Supreme Court, as chairman, and two medical officers, one of whom was a nominee of the Returned Services’ Association. Mr. Broadfoot was questioning the decision of the Appeal Board, although, added the Minister, he could not answer for the Appeal Board. The soldier concerned still had open to him an appeal to the House. As far as the Government was concerned, it .was out to do all it possibly could for returned men.