MAORI WAR VETERANS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 110, 30 October 1911, Page 7

MAORI WAR VETERANS.

PROVISION FOR PENSIONS. In moving the second reading of the Military Pensions Bill in the House of Representatives on Thursday evening, the Prime Minister said that he proposed to make it apply to any soldier who had served in any war under the Crown, so that it should not apply solely to Maori war veterans. Mr. T. M. Wilford, on behalf of the Veterans' Association, suggested that the pension should be given to all holders of the Maori war medal; that no proof of age should be necessary; that it should be given in lieu of an old ages pension free from cancellation owing to lapses from sobriety; and that it should not bar the recipient's wife from receiving the. old-age pension.

Mr. Massey said he was dissatisfied with the Bill, which merely clwnged the name of the pension, and indicated that there was a stigma attaching to the name of old-age pension. Mr. Ilogan: Many more will draw it now.

The Prime Minister: Those who have been asking for a change have east a stigma on the old-age pensions. Mr. Massey would give a pension to any man who had been under fire in the Maori wars.

Mr. R. A. Wright said the Bill was really on the lines of what the veterans had been asking for, but he suggested that the pension should be given on the same conditioiis as the old-age pensions, barring the limitation of earnings.

Messrs J. P. Luke, F. M. B. Fisher and P McLaren, with other members, urged '■' t a more generous provision should 1 nade.

'he Prime Minister said there appearr' to be a sense of irresponsibility on the part of members regarding this matter that he could not understand. The Bill provided a pension for any soldier who became a veteran in the future. The proposals of members would give pensions to all the South African troopers. He was against a system of military pensions to all and sundry on American lines. To remove the old-age pensions conditions would mean an expenditure of £13,000 a year. The Bill would meet the desires of the veterans from sentimental motives to have a military pension. It met the desires of the vettcrans to the letter. The second reading was agreed to.