H.—lB.

Receipts during any income-year not exceeding £500 by way of legacy, life insurance, or compensation for accidental injury or death, where such receipts are expended on a home property or for any other purpose deemed reasonable, may also be exempted. Additional property exemptions include any interest in land, including any interest in any mortgage of any estate or interest in land. The general exemption for other property has been increased from £50 to £500. The period of residence in New Zealand to qualify for pension has been reduced from twenty-five years to twenty years. The deduction in respect of age from the pension of a female applicant under sixty-five years has been eliminated, and a woman of sixty years of age now receives the full pension. Widows' Pensions. Every pension has been increased by 10s. a week, and the maximum pension has been increased from £4 to £4 10s. a week. The old provision charging 5 per cent, of all property other than home and furniture as constructive income has been eliminated. A new provision provides pension for deserted wives with children on the same basis as widows pensions, subject to maintenance proceedings having failed, or a maintenance order not being complied with and the whereabouts of the husband being unknown. Miners' Pensions. Provision was made extending the qualifying diseases for miners' pensions, which now include miners' phthisis (pneumoconiosis) or tuberculosis of the lungs or any other disease of the respiratory organs commonly associated with or a sequel to pneumoconiosis, or any other occupational disease or heart-disease contracted while working as a miner in New Zealand. A definite right to pension at the rate of 17s. 6d. a week during widowhood has been given to the widow of a miner dying while in receipt of pension. (Right to pension irrespective of circumstances previously was for two years only.) Military Pensions (Maori War). The pension payable to a Maori War veteran has been increased from £49 per annum to £58 10s. per annum. Blind Pensions. The pensions formerly payable to blind persons under Part 111 of the Pensions Acft, 1926, are now included in the new invalidity pension provisions, with new benefits in respect of wife and children (10s. weekly for the wife and 10s. a week for each child) and an increase in the basic pension from ITs. 6d. to £1 a week. Invalidity Pensions. The Pensions Amendment Act, 1936, made provision for the first time for the payment in New Zealand of invalidity pensions to persons of the age of sixteen years or upwards. The benefits of the Act arc payable to persons of good character and who ha.ve been resident in New Zealand for ten years and who are permanently incapacitated for work, provided the Condition of invalidity arose in New Zealand. The following scale of pensions is provided for : — Married Man : £1 a week plus 10s. a week for wife and 10s. a week for each child under sixteen years, with maximum pension of £4 a week. Widower with Child or Children : £1 a week plus 10s. a week for each child under sixteen, maximum pension £4 a week. Other Applicants; £1 a week. , Apart from pension, an income of £2 a week is allowed in the case of a mairried applicant or widower with children, and £1 a week in the case of other applicants. The qualifications in respect of property are the same as for old-age pensions. Family Allowances Amendment Act, 1936. The income exemption permitting maximum allowance in respect of children! has been increased from £3 ss. to £4 a week. War Pensions Amendment Act, 1936. The benefits brought about by this Act are — A time-limit of seven years from date of discharge within which marriage was required to take place before the wife or widow of a disabled or deceased ex-member of the N.Z.E.F. could qualify for pension has been removed, and the pensions become payable where marriage took place prior to Ist August, 1936 (this also applies to allowances under the War Veterans' Allowance Act, 1935). The maximum economic pension payable to certain classes of ex-soldiers has been increased from £1 2fe. 7d. a week to £1 ss. a week. The reductions made by the National Expenditure Adjustment Act, 1932, in certain classes of statutory pensions and all ecomonic pensions payable to dependants of deceased soldiers have been fully restored.

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