LATE GENERAL FULTON.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 235, 16 September 1922, Page 7

LATE GENERAL FULTON.

QUESTION OF NEW ZEALAND PENSION. “IT IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE.” “It is incomprehensible to me that the committee should bring down such a report. ... J don’t think it is a question of policy at all,” remarked -Ur. F. F. Hockly (Rotorua), when the chairman of the Defence Committee reported to the House recently that the committee had no recommendation to make with regard to the petition of Mrs. Ada Fulton, of Te Awaniutu, as it Was a matter of policy. The petitioner, who was the widow of the late Brigadier-General Fultcn, an Imperial officer who joined the New Zealand forces and was killed at Amiens sought a New Zealand pension. There was a distinct understanding between the Defence Department and the late soldier that, in the event of his being killed she would receive a New Zealand pension. The Hon. E. P. lx?e: There was no proof of that. Mr. Hockly added that subsequent legislation should not be allowed to overrule the understanding referred to. Mr. T. E. Y. iSeddon (Westland) said that though the committee was not unsympathetic, the matter was certainly one of policy. It behoved the present Minster to carry out the contract made by his predecessor. Sr R. H. Rhodes stated that t was not denied that Sr Janies Allen had said that General Fulton’s receipt of a pension from the Indian Government would not preclude his receiving a New Zealand pension; but the position was altered by the legislation of 1916, ano it could only be changed bv amending legislation. The report was laid on the table.