SOLDIERS' DISABILITIES.

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1419, 23 October 1923, Page 5

SOLDIERS' DISABILITIES.

WAR. FUNDS COUNCIL'S PRONOUNCEMENT. RECOMMENDATION TO PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES. (By Telegraph. Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The War Funds Council is now .receiving applications for relief from soldiers suffering from sickness who are not in receipt of a pension. Many are affected by " T. 8.," which they maintain was caused or aggravated by gassing or pneumonia while on active service. The Council therefore obtained the opinion of two doctors on the question. Briefly, their opinion is that if tuberculosis is going to develop as a result of gassing it will do so within five years. Where men have stated that they were slightly gassed but do not report at the.time, the doctors do not believe it has anything to do with the contraction of " T. 8." afterwards. They are also of opinion that soldiers who contracted pneumonia before the war for more than a year and were discharged as fit, but afterwards became "T. 8.," cannot claim a pension for war disability. The executive hopes tlhat these opinions will be used by patriotic societies when considering claims, but at the same time that soldiers will receive the most sympathetic treatment possible compatible with the circumstances.