AGED EX-SOLDIERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 91, 15 March 1935, Page 6

AGED EX-SOLDIERS.

Oil Ait acte rised by headquarters of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association as the most important problem that ihe organisation lias faced, the difficulty of caring for ex-soldiers who arebecoming prematurely aged has become- so pressing that an attempt is to be made by the R.S.A. to obfain a special Act of Parliament to provide adequate compensation for men who come within this description. In the appeal to branches for support the headquarters of the organisation set out the problem in detail, and it is shown that the incidence of it is being t'elt severely in the main centres of population. Should the matter reach the point of a Parliamentary debate and the enacting of legislation, there will have to be found finance to compensate those affected, and the in reference to this, says that the response to the demands for un-

employment funds has been, and is Being, met and no claim upon the State is more worthy or urgent than that of the necessitous ex-servicemen.” Steps are being' taken to provide the necessary evidence in support of this claim. The proposed scheme of assistance is designed to help not only the New Zealand Expeditionary Force members, but those of other contingents who are now residents of this Dominion. In the case of the latter it may be contended that some form of financial help should be forthcoming from the other parts of the Empire concerned. Broadly, it. will apply to ex-servicemen who are not at present eligible for a war pension,'but nevertheless have obviously been incapacitated to a greater or lesser degree because of tlieir war service. It will be recognised that difficulties may be encountered in determining the root cause of some of the cases put forward for compensation, for the defining of incapacity due to war service and that resulting purely from general economic conditions such as unemployment presents an almost impossible task. However, if the R.S.A. pursues its inquiries in this respect with its characteristic diligence, the taxpayer need have little fear of the result. Unfortunately New Zealand does not already possess funds specifically for the purpose outlined here. Canada has provided the necessary legislation, while Britain has the Prince of Wales Pension Fund, administered by the British Legion, on which to draw. The New Zealand R.S.A. .recognises the assistance given to needy returned men from the ex-servicemen’s funds, but points out that there is a heavy drain on these at present without an additional Burden. There is a serious national problem concerning those men who, at ages ranging from 39 to 50 years, as experience shows, are becoming- infirm and necessitous when they should be in tlieir prime.