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REPORTS.

No. 62—Petition of Ada M. P. Bourne, of Auckland. Praying that she be granted a war widow's pension. I have the honour to report that the Committee has no recommendation to make. 20th October, 1937.

No. B.—Petition of Mary H. Houghton, of Sydney. Praying for retrospective payment of pension granted on account of her husband's war service. I have the honour to report that the Committee has no recommendation to make. 20th October, 1937.

No. 72.—Petition of Ann Bate, of' Wanganui. Praying that she be granted a war widow's pension. I have the honour to report that in the opinion of the Committee the petition should be referred to the Government for most favourable consideration. The Committee is of the opinion that when a man is in receipt of a soldier's pension at the time of death the Government should consider granting the widow a widow's pension, irrespective as to whether the cause of death is attributable to war services or not. 26th October, 1937.

No. 6.—Petition of J. J. Wilson, of Whakatane. Praying for compensation for injuries allegedly sustained while employed with the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. I have the honour to report that the Committee has no recommendation to make in respect of the prayer for compensation. The Committee, however, is of the opinion that the Pensions Department should make inquiries as to whether the petitioner has any claim on the Imperial Government The Committee recommends that this report be referred to the Government. 26th October, 1937.

No. 74,—Petition of J. S. Beaumont, of Palmerston North. Praying for compassionate allowance on account of injury allegedly sustained during the period he was undergoing military training. I have the honour to report that the Committee has no recommendation to make. 26th October, 1937.

No. 77. —Petition of J. Hughes, of Wellington. Praying for compensation on the account of the alleged forced sale of his property. I have the honour to report that in the opinion of the Committee the petition should be referred to the Government for consideration. 17th November, 1937.

No. 93.—-Petition of L. Sayers, of Auckland. Praying for inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his retirement from the Defence Department, reinstatement in the Public Service, and compensation on account of alleged wrongful retirement. I have the honour to report that the Defence Committee has exhaustively and carefully considered this petition and has no recommendation to make. The petition involved grave charges against officers and staff in charge of the Wigram Aerodrome. This is the fourth occasion upon which the petition has been heard. On the first occasion the Committee found for the petitioner, and recommended that the petition be referred to the Government for favourable consideration. On the motion of the then Minister of Defence, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, that petition was referred back to the Committee, and after an exhaustive hearing the Committee decided unanimously that it had no recommendation to make The petition was presented to the House again in 1936, and the Committee again, after an extensive hearing, had no recommendation to make. Because of the way in which the petitioner on presenting another petition this year sought to incriminate responsible officers, the Defence Department asked

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