7

F. a

The absolutely forfeited instalments in each month are as follows ; 1910. £ s. d. April 104 16 8 Mar 114 19 :! June 114 8 8 July.. 117 15 0 August 113 10 11 September 118 11 9 October .. 116 3 6 November .. 86 9 6 December 103 12 7 1911. January 119 U 10 February 116 12 0 March ' 79 12 5 £1,305 13 0 The instalments not collected within the time allowed by law, but subsequently specially authorized and paid dur?ng the year, numbered 890, representing a total of £1.630. The absolutely forfeited instalments for the past six years are as follows : £ 1906 1,330 1607 1,363 1908 .. 1,199 1909 .. 1,330 1910 938 1911 1.305 Homes am. Hospitals, The amount paid to the controlling bodies of the various homes and hospitals during the year totalled £21,213 9s. 4d., an increase of £1,264 on the amount paid in the previous year. £1,260 6s. sd. of the total represents the charge made for the medical treatment of pensioners in hospitals. The number of pensioners paying for maintenance at the end of the year was 811, being an increase of eighteen on the number at the end of last year. Full particulars regarding these payments, including the amount allowed to pensioners out of each month's instalment, appear in Table X of the appendix. The amounts paid in this direction during the past six years, and the number of pensioners being maintained at the end of each year. are as follows :— „ , , J Number of „ Amount paid. Pensioners at Xear - £ End of Year. 1906 . . 14,350 616 1907 . 16,121 637 1908 .. 16,991 645 1909 . . .. 17,973 71 I 1910 .. 19.919 793 1911 .. 21,213 811 The decrease in the annual expenditure on outdoor relief since the Old-age Pensions Act came into force in 1898 is indicated by the following table : — European Annual Cost of Cost per Head Year ended Population. Outdoor Relief. of Population. s. d. 31st March, 1899 ... ... ... 746,676 50,850 1 4f 1900 ... ... 758,617 41,790 I 1} 1901 ... ... ... 772,719 42,181 I 1 1902 ... .789,994 38,934 0 11$ 1903 ... ... ... 814,842 43,421 I Of 1904 ... ... ... 888,954 42,618 1 0J 1905 ... ... 864,971 40,799 0 114; 1906 ... ... ... 889,968 39,547 0 10* 1907 ... ... ... 913,873 38,305 0 10 1903 ... ... 937,587 33,998 0 8J 1909 ... ... 968,313 37,537 0 9* 1910 ... ... ... 987,480 38,988 0 9* 1911 ... ... ... (figures not available). Mental Hospitals. The number of old-age pensioners committed to the mental hospitals of the Dominion during the year was ninety-six, the percentage to the total number of pensioners whose names appeared on the roll during the same period— i.e., 17,719 —being 0-54 per cent. The instalments paid to the Mental Hospital Department on account of these totalled £1.105 9s. 6d.. and the number still being maintained at the end of the year was sixty-eight.