DOMINION’S PENSIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3774, 13 July 1926, Page 7

DOMINION’S PENSIONS.

OYER £2,500,000 YEARLY. INCREASE OF £129,000. WAR PENSIONS DECREASING. WELLINGTON, July 6. According to the annual report of the Pensions Department, presented to Parliament to day, the Dominion’s annual pension bill at March 31 last was £2,516.281, an increase of £ 128,996 on the figure at the same date a year earlier. The number of pensions in force was 49,264, an increase of 443. The gross payments made in 192526 amounted to £2,489,578. an increase of £102,293. The cost per head of European population was £1 163 9d. an increase of sd. The number and annual value of • the various classes of pensions current at the ends of the two years are as follows: 1925. 1926.

Totals... 48,821 2,087,2»5 49.264 2,518,281 During the year the pension system was liberalised by iegislation. The maximum old-age and blindness pension was raised from 15s to 17s 6d per week. The full value of the home instead of a maximum value of £520 was exempted in respect of old-age, blindness, and widows’ pensions. The pension age of children of old-age pensioners and widows was increased to 15 ' years, and a number of other concessions was granted. The annual increase in appropriations arising from these added benefits was estimated to reach £150,000 per annum. The increase in the annual liability ns at March 31 last, with several months of the first year still to go was:— Old-age pensions £123,200 Widows* pensions £17,400 Blindness pensions £5,200 Total £145,800 The total esimated cost of the benefits conceded in the Pensions Amendments Acts of 1524 and 1925 was £300.000 per annum, and the actual increase recorded has exceeded £290,000 per annum. The cost of administration for 1925-26 was £67,728, or just under 2£ per cent of the total payment The annual war pension liability at March 31 last was £1.122,843. The number of pensioners was 20,716, and of dependent children 3420, the average pension being £54. There vere 8104 permanent soldier pensioners receiving an average of £4B each. Of 423 appeals heard in 1925-26, 227 were dismissed, 167 were upheld, and 29 withdrawn and struck out. Economic pensions payable to soldiers’ widows and widowed mothers at March 31 last numbered 1399, the annual value being £83,528, and the average £59. The medical treatment of war pensioners for the year cost £93,589. Temporary pensions to soldiers decreased by 1077, and permanent pensions increased by 611. The number of soldier pensioners who died waa 131,

N Annual value, umber. £ Annual valuo. Number. 41 War ... i 11,318 1,140,165 20,716 1,122,841 OLl-age ... 1 ’2,061 a 850,795 22.005 981,885 281,141 3,833 301.121 Maori War 510 25.431 444 21,756 Miners ... 607 37,934 G40 40,462 Epidemic... 365 16,226 313 11,802 Eli ml m 4.485 196 9.396 Boer War60 2.940 60 2,445 Special Anuuities 102 10,380 102 0,291 Civil Service Act, 11)03... 67 17,776 53 15,27*