Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 29, 1935. CARE OF WAR VETERANS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18770, 29 July 1935, Page 6

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, MONDAY, JULY 29, 1935. CARE OF WAR VETERANS

The proposal that the State should make reasonable provision for mei: who are breaking down as a result ol war service, but who are not eligible for any of the existing pensions, it one that should commend itself t( careful consideration by the Govern meat. The problem which it is sought to overcome is not a new one but hat become more pronounced in the lasi few years and is not likely to be re dated for some time to dome. Xoi is the. difficulty peculiar to New Zen laud, for other countries, also, an confronted with the responsibilityami it cannot be regarded in any other light—of taking’ some steps U ensure ; that Amen are not ■.. unduly penalised-for the service they rendered during the war years. Compared

viitli other countries, the Dominion hits not been niggardly in its treatment of men who suffered disablement between 1014 and .191 S, but it is bemining increasingly apparent that the present interpretation of what constitutes disablement is not sufficiently wide and that some revision is urgently necessary. The existing legislation stipulates that pensions can only be granted where it can be shown that disability is directly attributable to v.:,r service, a conditions which auto inatirsilly disqualifies many men who only now are suffering from reactions to the ordeals they underwent twenty voats ago. Men who emerged from the war with visible proof of theii experience in the form of missing limbs "-or oi lier wounds are already provided for, but those who escaped injury and whose health survived the strain of action—and perhaps because of that fact Is more seriously undermined to-day—have no legal claim to financial assistance. That they have‘a moral claim, however, b beyond dispute. It requires no medical knowledge to appreciate that two three, and four years of actual war fare, must, sooner or later, be rellocted in a man’s health, and must contribute mateiially to the premature ageing of which there is tindeniable evidence. It is true that this physical deterioration cannot, in a strietlv legal sense, be directly at tributed to war service, but it would hardly be the wish of the country that the Government should evade a moral obligation i on any' technical legal ground, and that, surely, iwhat ihe present position amounts to It is with the object of removing the anomalies that now exist that a bib to be brought before Parliament .during the coming session. The proposal soemS to have been carefully drafted with the object of ensuring tliat no veteran is noglosfed by the community, but, at the same time, Inking care that whatever concessions arc granted should be. as free from abuse as possible. It is proposed ihat the maximum pension for a man wiili a uifo and four children dependent upon him should be £3 a week, which ma.v be supplemented to the extent of 10s a week by private income. The classes of men eligible would be those who have attained the ace of GO years, those who, in the opinion of the Pensions Board, are permanently' unemployable by reason of disability, and those who have already qualified for smaller pensions. The claims tire not bv any means extravagant when compared with other pensions, or even with the relief and sustenance rates paid by the Unemployment Board, and the fact that they will only be payable in cases where it is necessary to relieve or

prevent actual distress is another strong argument in its favor. Unfor-

tunatoly, the probable cost of the scheme has not been estimated, for without a careful investigation it would bo almost impossible to calculate the number of men who would come within its .scope. There is the important point to be taken into consideration, however, that most of those qualifying for a disability pension would already be a charge on the country in one way or another, and for this reason the additional aggregate cost should not be very great, and certainly not too large to prevent justice being done to men whose only reward for .servin'* to their country has been a breakdown or deterioration in health, and a consequent inability to .stand up to the economic handicaps of one of the most difficult periods in the history ot the country. As a general principle, there might be some objection to the further extension of the Dominion.’s already heavy pensions bill, but if there is any class deserving of special consideration it is undoubtedly those to whom the present proposal applies, and the argument is strengthened by the fact that the main result would not be the creation of a largo new body of pensioners so much as thentransfer from wliat might be regard ed as charitable aid to the ranks of those to whom the Stale is under r. special obligation for services rendered in the past. The bill, presumably. D being sponsored by the Returned Soldiers’ Association and this-, in itself, is some guarantee of its justification. for that body, while zealous of (he interests of the men it represents, has never been extravagant in its claims, has carefully held itself aloof from political issues, and has always shown a keen appreciation of the paramount claims of the country as a whole. Whether the proposals will b< acceptable to the Government in then entirety remains to be seen, but the underlying principle is so manifestly just and reasonable that a .sympathetic reception should be assured.