3

F.—9

on the score of property under the Act. as it stood in 1908. The, increase of 700 pensioners for the year may therefore be said to bo -.t. normal increase — i.e., one bearing a relation in equal proportion to the increase in the population. The following table shows the percentages from 1906 onwards of the European pensioners to (a) The population eligible by age, and (b) the population eligible by age and residence : —

The increases in the percentages in 1909 and 1910 may both be attributed to the liberalizing provisions of the 1908 Amendment Act. Of the total number of pensioners, 13,936, or 87 per cent, of the whole, were in receipt of the full pension, leaving only 13 per cent, drawing less than £26 per annum. The percentage drawing the full pension at the end of the previous year was 77 per cent., the marked increase this year being due to the benefits provided by last year's Act. The following table shows the percentages of those drawing full pensions to the total pensioners from the date the pension was increased to 10s. a week :■ — At 31st March. Total Pensioners. Full Pensions. Per Cent. 1905 11,770 9,200 78 1906 12,582 10,398 82 1907 13.257 10,653 80 1908 13,569 10,774 79 1909 14,396 11,340 78 I'.ilit 15,320 11,827 77 1911 .. 16,020 13,936 87 Table II of the appendix sets out the number payable at each rate of pension at the end of the past year. Of the 7,487 pensioners who were admitted to the roll in the first three months of the Act. 1,629 now only remain. The figures of the past few years show a decided increase in the number of these who have dropped out during the past year through death, the percentage of deaths in this section of pensioners reaching 14 per cent., whereas in each of the preceding three years it was but 12 per cent. These percentages are high, but they are not surprising when it is remembered that the association of this group with the Department has extended to a period of upwards of twelve years. The total deaths of pensioners throughout the year number 1,423, and the percentage of these to the total number of pensioners who have passed through the books in the same period is only 8 per cent. Table 111 of the appendix shows the percentages still remaining on the roll of the various groups admitted year by year since the scheme came into force. The pensioners of an advanced age continue to bear a good proportion of the whole, there being at the end of the year no less than 117 of the age of ninety and upwards. Fourteen were ninety-five and over, and there, were two centenarians. Table IV of the appendix contains details of all pensioners at the various ages. The distribution of the pensioners, European and Maori, in the various districts throughout the Dominion, together with the annual amount payable in these districts, is embodied in Table I of the appendix. Of the total number of pensioners admitted to the roll since the Act came into operation— i.e., 32.433—5,889 were single, 14,957 married, and 11,587 widowed. There weTe at the end of the year 1.522 married couples in receipt of the pension. New Claims. The total number of claims lodged during the year was 2,963, an increase of seventy-one on the number filed during the previous year. These, with the 777 claims awaiting investigation at the seventy-three agencies of the office throughout the Dominion on the 31st March. 1910. tnade a total of 3,740 dealt with, which were accounted for as follows :■ (Wanted .. 2,399 Rejected (including deaths, withdrawals, &c.) .. 669 • Being investigated on 31st March. 1911 ... .. 672 3.740 The new pensioners include seventy-nine members oi the Native race. Of the remainder, all but I I'd- i.e.. 2,200 —are of British extraction, including eighty-five whites born in New Zealand. The

\i 31 si March. (n.) European (6.) European PopuPopulation eligible lation eligible by by Age. Age and Residence. European Pension.!-. Percentage to («). Percentage to (6). * - J_ 1906 1907 .. 1908 . . 1909 1910 1911 40,788 37,367 42,337 38,611 43,371 39,336 44,562 40,176 44,838 40,238 46,586 41,556 11,915 12,597 12,912 13,705 14,626 15,336 29 29 29 30 32 32 31 32 32 34 36 36