MATERNITY BONUS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11190, 21 April 1922, Page 3

MATERNITY BONUS

HALF A MILLION PAID OUT. MELBOURNE; April 10. More than £500,000 has been paid out of the Federal exchequer in the nine months of the financial year which* have elapsed in satisfaction of claims' for the maternity bonus. This means (says the *■Age”) that 106,322 babicD’ have been born, and the parents, rich and poor alike, have drawn £5 from the public funds in celebration of tho' ovent. The total ,outlay to date is £531,610, and the expenditure for tho remainder of the year will be controlled only by the number of people who think that because they have become parents they are entitled to draw npon public revenue. Indications are awaited that the new Federal Treasurer it prepared to tackle this question and HP vert the funds thus obviously wasted into useful channels for the betterment of the lot of mothers in need of assistance and the improvement of methods and facilities for combating infantile diseases, Hut so far no sign has been given that action too long delayed will be taken. Added to this form of Government charity doles is the everincreasing army of pensioners who draw weekly allowances from the Treasury. There are now in force 104,697 age pensions and 38,842 invalid .pensions. These are distinct from the war pensions.