VOICE OF A VETERAN.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 268, 1 November 1911, Page 6

VOICE OF A VETERAN.

THE MILITARY PENSION BIEL. DoF- IT MEET THE ( A-E - ( OLO.XEL POK I ER SPEAKS IH T. Th*- reb-g: a.n regarding military pen'i •::* nbi:h was publishod <m Saturday apparently not in keeping with the ii >s el a large nation of the public. I' was stated in the rm s-age ri>ceiv«l th.it the Military Pensions Bill had ; Im •:! introduced into the Hulls- 1 of Re pi ■- -ntatives. The Bill provided that a:>s per -on emit! d to a pension under tl • 01.1-ag l Pensions Act who served as a so!d»--r in any Maori war shall be entitled. in lien of a pension under ■ th :t Ai t. to a military pension under ’ that Act. 1 \\ it*i a view t i a-• •rtaii ing how the , ptopo.ssl measure would be rece : >ed by tl -. • • whom it would affect, a Gisborne > ‘"I ini- 1 - ” reporter v.aited on Colonel P-.. ter on Satiirday and was gran.-al :> interview. The colonel said that the rbi. f objection would be to placing the ■ military psneion on th 1 same footing as ! th- 1 old-age pension. He thought this an altogether wrong procedure, and coni trary to the customary service in the ; Home country and other British dej p "nd“iit i-s. He considered that it i would be an insult to those num who, bv their war service deserve considera- ' ti->n. to be put in a position making it tt: ••• —ary fur them to make application . in the same way as old-age pensioners. ..nd subj.s ting them to questions as to

v Iwther they should really ho entitled I to the pension.

IMPERIAL SYSTEM ADVOCATED. I To do justice to them, it should have i been placed o:i lit • same fooling as th- [M-n-ion syst -m of the Imperial ser-lii-e. m)mli was administered from Chel-

*".i throughout the Empire. There for*. th • Government should have appoit.tcd the Defence l Department the adniini-to: mg authority for aw aiding pensions to thus ll who were l entitled to 'he -I. Tiler. l were a number of officers and men who were entithsl to [H-nsions that hate not and would not apply tinder the same conditions as for an c.ldage p elision. They would, however, ac' -pt a pension if it were awarded for th-i.- military services cat behalf of their country. 2he movement for many years Lad Loen to get the (lorernnii'iit to • •cogtiis.l th ■ services rendered by the New Zealand war veterans c.f the naval, army, and colonial forces, and the int r.t was to limit pel: -ions to those l who had re-i'.-sl tin l New Zealand war medal. Th. l chief condition of the ii 'ti l of this medal was that it should only be awarded to those who could be ci rtifim] as having lie n under fire during th* war. This condition was even more string nit than that obtaining in th l Imp uial service, in which case v;i, medals were often issued for a campaign. and it did not follow that the men v.e-e e.er actually tinder lire. Not so with th.- New Zealand war medal. ftera'ls. l tli. 1 condition of issue was tlat tin- met should have actuallv fu- n t>n-rl.-r fir- 1 . Colette! Newa’tl and myself,” said Colonel Porter. “ were delegated to lay the matter before* the Prime Minister during tin* s «ssion of 1909. It was {mint *d out by us that the* actual number of medallists then known to lie alive* would not have exceeded rliotlt 3 X). These* were Colonials, and of the Imperial army and navy tlie'li* ware at th * outside another hundred.” Hcw enl on to say that tin l youngest known vete'an sit that time was -Vi years of ag *. and a large percentage of th* 1 others were* over t>s and upwards of *SOi years of age. Tfie. 1 for- 1 , he said, the' least the Government could do would hat - I. -t to grant them an independent military pension under the military, system, and not under the old-age pen- ! sion syst.‘tn.

Asked if he had olisorved those v ho had l<e.ui rer onimended certain grants as the results of inquiries made betore magistrates throughout th? Dominion regarding old soldiers' claims. Colonel Porter said that, in his opinion, it was on a par with all the other treatment of the services of veterans, and to > im the matter so-med so paltry and the grants so absurdly inadequate thjlt it was altogether an insult to thos« who were entitled to rec‘ive the amounts alluded to. Who was responsible for such meanness he did not know-, hut he felt sure it was not the magistrates. Of the many hundreds who had applied throughout the Dominion, only twenty-three were rocommend-d. ami th* paltry sum of £460 had been awarded to them for services which had been awaiting recognition for forty-five o: fifty years. INSTANCES Or NEGLECT. In one local instance, the colonel went on to say. a Sergeant Deariove. who was a comrade of his own and was kill d in action at East Cape, was entitled at the time ot his service to a grant of 60 acres of land, which, however. h*' never received. During the fortv vears that have elapsed it v oilld hav ■ (..some very vahiahh’. but now l.is relatit <’s were to receive a paltry £3<>. Also in the case of Sergeant Rob •• t Th'-lwell. whose homo, while h- 1 waser. ing against tlw enemy in the d before ami thiring the massacre. plundered and ruined. His losses amounted to many hundreds of pounds. Vet r.ow. after forty-three years, he was awanhsl a grant of £lO. in r<’cognition of his losses and satisfaction for his services. The hiin<lr»sls whose claims had hem absolutely unrecogtiised w.’re doubtless in many instanc.--fullv doviving of i-~-ognition. but had i for some unknow n reason been ignored. Tim most important tart that might l« 10-gott m by the Government and the g-umral public was tisat when New Zea--1 lami fler'ared the self-reliant policy in Is- ;. ami the hnpcial forces were v, ir'idraw n. it w as then that the Colonial t, terans .-nt- re l the service and fought ’ the - til sequent battb's ami brought to the country. It was owing to tiie sori <>f three men <>t whom the e we..- rov. few survivors that the country va, now peaeoiiilly occupied bv the people who lived in amity v. it it ■ t>». i ace that was formerly trying t< dr.’,., th in trom the country. The., a. also, s'-attcred through tin 1 counts.. many Native ollie who «e.. loyal to our side, ami who held the New Z ■,<l.i'd war in.-Lil. and they hnd berr .<- n.m-li n'g'erted a- tin- Euroi>eans Th - matt should have, he thought, i-e,.;, de.ih with by the Defence Dep.i’tm- i.t tallowing ot» the lines <.f tin Jmp.- ial service, which they were now tmm_ t < establish throughout, the Do mii,i.>|| in the shufie of ti e d .tern < The neglett of those who hat I would lint t -ml to instil into tin ■... re me:’.- that ti-y d-iroim .>1 'tairnng. till* ill’ll Ot l.Jiting for lIIt. ■ she-dd o e.isioii dmmind it T! ■ Pl m a Minist r had missed an < x . ,t opportunity for em ouragim. -i.z... : m in the hearts of tlie younfj m ” v. ! -o were now being launched oi , ( ..i'q im carts’- by failing to cstablM 'a miiitarv pension system on the line' ■Ot tho'c .i.taming in tin- Impeiin ys . . 11 *.