WAR RELIEF ASSOCIATION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXXXI, Issue XXXXI, 15 June 1920, Page 5

WAR RELIEF ASSOCIATION.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —At the annual conference of the N.Z. Returned boldiers' Association a resolution was passed against war relief associations adopting the third schedule of the War Pensions; Act, under whicii to pay out to ex-' soldiers for permanent d.sability. The '' particular Association aimed at was the Taranaki Provincial War Relief } Association, but what was failed to be grasped is the fact that our Associa-'' tion only adopted the third schedule as a basis for the permanently disabled' soldiers'. scheme. The third schedule ! {)rovides for visual cases, loss of a: imb, an eye, etc., but our Association j goes further, in fact, as far as is ne- I cessary, and makes a grant in T. 8., j* shell shock, and gassing, together with any other case where an ex-soldier is; suffering permanent disability brought j about by war service. The N.Z.R.S.A. j •and the War Relief Association of Wei-! lington propose that the proper method : of dealing with permanently disabled men is to assist them on the principle of each case being dealt with on its merits. Such a principle is unassailable provided either of two particular conditions are arbitrarily applied; the ' first condition is that a maximum pay- j ment to each individual must be fixed ■ upon, taking into consideration the * number of men to be. assisted; the al-I ternative condition is unlimited funds, j At the last meeting of the Advisory j Board I enquired if a maximum in-1 dividual payment was to be fixed; and j was told no; the amount in every case ' would_ be decided upon after considera-' tabn ol the merits of each case; one man might receive £1000, while another would only receive a small amount. This method is bound to cause dissatisfaction amongst the men; there, must be some basis to work from, and this would not prevent special consideration j where a case merited it. At this point j I wish to state that I am not writing j so much in defence of the scheme j adopted by our Association as in the 1 interests of ex-soldiers throughout the Dominion, and what I desire to emphasise most is that if the proposal of the N.Z.R.S.A. and the War Relief Association of Wellington is carried out there is a grave danger of the patriotic funds being depleted before all the permanently disabled men receive assistance. _ This is not an opinion formed hurriedly, but from experience of dealing in a comprehensive manner for assisting permanently disabled men. Our Association could not at the outset secure the necessary data for guidance as to the sum that would be necessary to set aside for permanently disabled men in the province of Taranaki, but we estimated that .£25,000 would be sufficient for the purpose. This sum will undoubtedly be exceeded, and if a considerable margin had not been al-; lowed for our finances would have been ! embarrassed. It must be understood j that £25,000 was considered sufficient j only for men permanently disabled from ] 40 to 100 per cent.; another section | of the scheme is now operating giving ; assistance to 20 to 40 per cent, men., ] although this part of the scheme will not absorb a large amount. The total fund of our Association was approximately £64,000, and some ef the larger centres in New Zealand with a greater number of men to assist do not to any extent exceed this amount, that is, for sick and wounded soldiers and their dependents. _ It is to be realised that only a portion of these funds may be earmarked for permanently disabled men. The calls for assistance in other directions have been many. Some of the associations are already paying out at a much higher rate than our AesoI ciation, on the system of every case on its merits, which must make it plain

that if this is generally adopted a number of permanently disabled men will not receive the assistance that is due to them, owing to the depletion of funds. To wx)rk out a scheme that would prove positively fair and equitable to all returned men is not- possible; the best that can be done is to adopt a policy that will enable every man to receive an adequate measure of assistance. This we claim is being done by our Association, and meets with the approval of the Taranaki branches of the N.Z.R.S.A., and, 1 think, the donors of the funds.—l am, etc.,

W. P. KIRKWOOD,

Chairman, T.P.W.R.A Stratford, June 15, 19*20.