NEW ZEALAND CROSS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14809, 12 October 1911, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND CROSS.

THE PAYMENT OF PENSIONS. ■ , - ■■s'-" ■■'- v.:,-:. [BY TEr.rGEATH.—SPECIAI CORRESPONDENT.) Wellington, Wednesday. Legislative authority for the payment of grants to holders of the New Zealand Cross apparently does not exist. The Minister for " Defence has been asked by Mr. Bollard (Eden) whether the annual grant of £10 has been paid to Mr. Northcroft, of Auckland, from the date he become entitled to the cross (43 years ago). Explaining the position, Sir Joseph Ward said that. Mr. Northcroft had recently submitted an application to bo paid as the recipient of the New Zealand Cross a grant of £10 per annum. This involves consideration of the payment of back pay from the institution of the cross in lot>9 to its presentation in 1911. The last recipient of the cross has never claimed the annuity, but the claim of the recipient immediately previous to him fox ! the payment- of 17 years' back pay was submitted to Parliament in 1891 by the ✓Minister for Defence (who declined to take the responsibility for the payment) and approved. The pension for the recipients of the cross was drawn from funds provided under the New Zealand Cross Endowment Act, 1869, which was repealed by the Statutes Repeal Act, 1902. 'It is therefore doubftul whether; provision legally exists for the payment of pensions to recipients of the cross who were awarded the decoration after September 13, 1902, the date the repealing I Act came into force. Further inquiry is being made into the matter. .J