BRITISH WAR PENSIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20251, 10 May 1929, Page 11

BRITISH WAR PENSIONS.

HEAVY COST TO COUNTRY.

EXPENDITURE SINCE 1914

British Wireless. RUGBY, May 8. In the course of a dob ato in the llouso of Commons to-day on the vote for the Ministry of Pensions, Major G. C. Tryon, Minister of Pensions, said tho voto was still almost the largest single vote for any of the great departments. The work of his Ministry affected the weekly budget of about 1,000.000 families. The number ot their beneficiaries was about 1,500,000. At, the end of the current year Britain would have spent sinco the beginning of the war. that was, in the last 15 years, no less than £913,000,000 on war pensions. 110 had taken pains to ascertain how this compared with the cxpemlituto of the other great countries who, with Britain, were most heavily engaged in the Great War. lie Itatl found that as compared with Britain's £913,000,000, France had spent about £500,000,000, and Germany about £400,000,000, so that Britain had spent roughly an amount on pensions "equal to that spent by thoso two great countries combined. Unlike tho other countries Britain had adjusted her scale of pensions to meet the enhanced price of commodities, so that a pensioner should not suffer. I'ho Minister said he estimated that for tho next 10 years the expenditure on pensions would bo about £45,000,000 a) year.