H.—lB

PENSION LEGISLATION. During the year legislation was embodied in the Finance Act, 1920, amending certain of the provisions relating to war, old-age, Maori War, and miners' pensions. The War Pensions Amendment provided for the setting-up of an Appeal Board, on purely medical grounds, to deal with appeals by soldiers who are not satisfied with the amount of pension allowed them, and others refused a pension by the Pensions Board on the grounds that death or disablement was not held to be due to or aggravated by war service. The Appeal Board has already been constituted, and has dealt with a number of appeals lodged throughout the Dominion. An increased expenditure of £50,000 per annum was authorized to be expended on totally disabled soldiers; and the War Pensions Board has disbursed this amount between soldiers in hospital, totally blinded soldiers, soldiers with double amputations, and those totally disabled and in receipt of full pensions. The old-age-pension bonus of £13 per annum, provided purely as a war measure, was incorporated in the statutory pension, and the rights of pensioners to various exemptions under the Act were extended. Miners' pensions payable under the Miner's Phthisis Act, 1915, were increased, in the case of married men and widowers with children under the age of fourteen years to £1 15s. a week, and in the case of unmarried men to £1 ss. a week. A further special concession made in respect of miners' pensions is that no instalment shall be forfeited in respect of any period of absence from New Zealand which does not exceed two years. Military pensions payable to veterans of the Maori War have been increased from £36 to £49 per annum. This means that those pensioners who were unable to qualify for the bonus granted as a war measure, on account of excessive income, now receive the full amount without restriction. As in the case of miners' pensions, those in receipt of the Maori War pension are also permitted to be absent from New Zealand for a period not exceeding two years without forfeiting instalments. Special provision was made in the Appropriation Act, 1920, exempting the cost-of-living bonus payable to superannuated Civil servants from being taken into account in calculating the amount of pension payable to old-age and widow pensioners.

WAR PENSIONS. Total Claims lodged to Date.

Gross Annual Value of all Pensions granted to Date.

Note. —The number of pensions granted as shown herein does not include children's pensions, the values of which, however, form part of the pensions payable to parents (or guardians), and are included in the annual-values total.

Summary of Annual Liability at the 31st March, 1921.

2

4 44 4

58 46 54

Class of Pension. Number. Annual Value. Average Pension. Soldiers (permanent) ioldiers (temporary) )ependants (temporary) Vidows of soldiers Hirer dependants of deceased soldiers 3,215 19,133 1,371 2,034 6,011 £ 183,032 1,044,821 91,149 226,932 202,931 £ 57 55 66 112 34 Totals 31,764 1,748,865 55