FALSE DECLARATION TO PENSIONS DEPT.; MAN SENT TO GAOL

Wanganui Chronicle, 21 November 1950, Page 6

FALSE DECLARATION TO PENSIONS DEPT.; MAN SENT TO GAOL

I ‘‘This matter of making false declarlations regarding pensions is serious, and it is not as though it was an isolated offence of dishonesty, because m ■ this case there was a wrongful declaration in April and each time this man drew a pension he knew that he was stealing it. He had plenty of time to think about it,’’ commented Mr S. S. Preston, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Wanganui yesterday. He was sentencing Charles John Kevin, labourer, aged 32, to three months’ imprisonment on a charge of making a false statement to the Secretary of War Pensions, Wellington, to the effect that for the 12 months ended February 28 last his earnings had been nil, whereas he had earned £lOB 16s 6d.

Bevin, who was represented by Mr D. G. Young, pleaded guilty, and also admitted nine additional charges of accepting payment of an economic pension from the War Pensions Department when he was not entitled to it. On each of these, however, he was convicted and discharged. The police prosecutor said that Bevin was a single man and in receipt of a military pension for wounds received while in action in the Middle East during World War 11. When not able to work he was entitled to make application for an economic pension, but it was necessary to make a statement of his circumstances each year and to give particulars of any wages earned. On April 24 he declared that tor the 12 months ended February 28, 1950, his earnings were nil, but Inquiries showed that between November 28 and February 9 he had earned £lOB 16s 6d from a Wellington firm. Between March 31, 1950, annd June 16 Bevin was employed by another firm and had earned £l3l 16s 6d. The police prosecutor added that when collecting his economic pension each month Bevin was required to fill in a small document showing his earnings during the period in question, but on each occasion he had stated that they were nil. Between November 28 and July 31 last Bevin had received a total of £7B 19s 6d to which he was not entitled. The Pensions Department, however, had stated that it was prepared to take action under the Act for recovering this amount. Unfortunately, Bevin had one conviction for dishonesty, but it was in 1944, said the prosecutor. Mr Young asked the court to extend leniency. For a period Bevin | was boarding in a Wellington suburb land had to attend the hospital regularly for bone grafts. Living was expensive, and he had to pay tram fares. Costs were such that they could not be met by his disability pension and his economic pension together. He still owed £59 for board and clothing in Wellington. As a result he took odd jobs, but realised that he had done a foolish thing. He was prepared to make restitution to the Pensions Department. The Magistrate: He was before the court for five charges of theft in 1944 and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. Does not the department pay all expenses for a man receiving treatment for war injuries? Mr Young: They do not pay board and lodging. Bevin, from the floor of the court, said in reply to a further question by j the magistrate that for seven months . he was in plaster after the bone graft.. (During this period he had to attend | the out-patients’ department of the ; Wellington Hospital. ; The Magistrate: If you were an outi patient you would receive a full pension.

Bevin said that he did not receive the full pension while he was an outpatient. He had no notification as to why it had been reduced. Sentencing Bevin to three months' imprisonment, the magistrate said that if people thought they could do this sort of thing and then expect i probation offences of this nature would not be stopped. “This must be checked in the community,” the I magistrate added.