COST OF BRITISH PENSIONS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15782, 2 April 1919, Page 6

COST OF BRITISH PENSIONS.

The expenditure of the British Ministry of Pensions is still going up, and it cannot yet be said when the maximum will be reached. In 1917-18 pensions absorbed .£23,000,0(30 of public money. The estimate for 1918-19 was .£41,000,000, but the amount actually spent, when the accounts are finally balanced, will be in the region of £50,000,000. That means that in the financial year which is now ending Hi© weekly average of State money spent on pensions was, roughly, £1,000,000. The prospective commitments of the Ministry are so. heavy that the weekly average will probably rise to £1,500,000 in the coming financial year. In round figures, between £70,000,000 and £80,000,000 will be needed for pensions. What this means will be realised when it is recalled that the entire national expenditure in the last full year of peace was approximately £200,000,000. In 1919-20 pensions alone will absorb more than one-third of the total expenditure of the Navy, Army, and the Civil Service Departments in 1913-14,