(Note: The payment of 15s. a week to each child may be made either by way of social security family benefit or, alternatively, by way of war pension.)

1. A pension may be granted either on a temporary or permanent basis. A temporary pension may be converted to a permanent pension when the disability reaches a final stationary condition but a pension can be reviewed and either increased or reduced at any time.

2. A clothing allowance for wear and tear of clothing or footwear as follows:

   1. Loss of two limbs or parts: 12s. 6d. a week.

   2. Loss of leg or part: 11s. 6d. a week.

   3. Loss of arm or part: 8s. 6d. a week.

   4. For use of mechanical appliances etc.: 8s. 6d. a week.

3. A free pass on New Zealand Railways rail and road services to a member in receipt of a full pension.

4. A permit to travel first class at second class rates on New Zealand Railways to an amputee or other person suffering locomotive disabilities to a degree of over 50 per cent for which a permanent pension is paid.

5. Payment of travelling allowance up to 10s. a week to a totally disabled pensioner who is unfit to travel alone.

6. Free medical and surgical treatment in respect of pensionable disabilities. Surgical appliances such as artificial limbs etc. are also supplied free and kept in good order and repair.

7. Payment of up to £100 towards the cost of structural alterations with a £25 provision for furniture to provide special accommodation for a pensioner suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis.

8. A maximum accommodation allowance of £2 5s. a day to a pensioner reporting for medical examination or treatment and compensation of up to £2 2s. 6d. a day in respect of loss of earnings.

9. Interest-free loans to certain seriously disabled pensioners to purchase motor cars; payment of loadings on life insurance policies where loadings are due to war disabilities; gallantry awards to disablement pensioners; and funeral grants in respect of deceased ex-servicemen.

10. Where a disablement pensioner requires the services of an attendant a grant towards an attendant's wages of up to £8 a week.

Any person, not being a dependant, who has suffered material loss of income or property through the disablement of a member of the forces and has not adequate means of support, may apply for a pension.

The following persons may claim pensions as dependants of a disablement pensioner: (a) his wife; (b) his child or children; (c) his parents; (d) any other member of his family who might reasonably have expected to enjoy some actual pecuniary benefit if the pensioner had not suffered disablement; (e) a woman who, although not legally married to him, is living with him on a permanent domestic basis and is wholly or partially dependent on him.

The pension granted to a wife or in respect of children is ordinarily at a rate proportionate to the disablement pension payable to the husband, except that where an economic pension is granted, the maximum rate for a wife or children may be authorised. In the case of a parent, a pension may be granted regardless of pre-service dependency if the parent is deemed not to have adequate means of support. In dealing with any claim by a dependant, the financial circumstances and the present ability of the disablement pensioner to support the claimant, must be taken into account except that this does not apply to claims for pensions by a wife or child where the disablement pension is on account of total blindness.

A child's pension may be continued beyond the age of 16 years if it is suffering from any physical or mental infirmity or is continuing its education.

An economic pension is a supplementary pension granted in addition to a disablement pension if the Board is of the opinion that the disability suffered is such that it is difficult for the pensioner to obtain or retain suitable employment. A member pensioned for minor disablement does not receive economic pension.

All income above £4 a week received by a pensioner (husband and wife if married) and other factors of economic significance are taken into account. In addition, the personal earnings of a disablement pensioner are disregarded in the assessment of an economic pension to an amount equivalent to that by which the disablement pension he receives is less than the amount of pension for total disablement, and the personal earnings of a member pensioned for total blindness are disregarded altogether. Up to 30s. a week of the personal earnings of women from certain domestic or nursing employment is disregarded, and up to 20s. a week received as sick benefit from a friendly society or as a like benefit from any other source is also disregarded.

Disablement Qualification. Disablement must be attributable to or aggravated by service, although a disability occurring overseas during service in connection with any war or emergency is accepted as attributable to service. There is no grant of pension in respect of any disability due to wilful misconduct. When deciding a claim for disablement pension, the War Pensions Board is required to give the claimant the full benefit of all presumptions in his favour, and to draw all reasonable inferences in his favour from evidence and medical opinions submitted to the Board. Pensions payable for certain specific disabilities are assessed as a percentage of the full pension payable for total disablement. For other disabilities the rate of pension is fixed by the Board having regard to the medical evidence. The following schedule sets out the relevant disabilities and percentages:

For total disablement, the rate of pension is currently £5 5s. a week, the rate being proportionately less for degrees of disablement less than total disablement. A member suffering from total blindness, two or more serious disabilities, or a single severe disability, may be granted additional pension up to £3 3s. a week, making a total disablement pension entitlement of £8 8s. a week.

Definition of “Member of the Forces”. A “member of the forces” is defined as “any person who is or has at any time been a member of Her Majesty's forces established in New Zealand”. The term, therefore, includes any person who served in the Royal New Zealand Navy, the New Zealand Army, or the Royal New Zealand Air Force in war or peace. A person who served in the Home Guard or the Women's Auxiliary Services, actually attached to the armed forces, is also included. The provisions of the Act may, in certain circumstances, be applied to a person who, although not a member of the New Zealand forces, was a bona fide resident of New Zealand at the commencement of the war or emergency in which he served and was a member of the forces of any other country of the Commonwealth.

The war pension legislation of New Zealand was consolidated in the War Pensions Act 1954 which, with its subsequent amendments, is the legislative authority for the payment of war pensions and allowances, and of pensions for members of peacetime armed forces, and others. The power to grant pensions and allowances is vested in a War Pensions Board of three members, one of whom is a registered medical practitioner, and another a representative of members of the forces appointed by the Minister in Charge of War Pensions on the nomination of the New Zealand Returned Services' Association. The legislation is administered, subject to the general direction and control of the Minister in Charge of War Pensions, by the Secretary of War Pensions who is an officer of the Social Security Department. Pensions and allowances are paid out of the revenue of the country from general taxation. The current war pension programme is largely the outcome of New Zealand participation in two World Wars in which large numbers of citizens served as members of the forces in and outside New Zealand.

The original authority for payment of pensions in respect of service with the forces was contained in the Military Pensions Act of 1866 which was enacted to regulate the granting of pensions to members of the colonial forces for wounds or injuries received in actual service, and to the widows and families of deceased members in certain cases. These provisions were subject to several alterations and the law was later consolidated by the passing of the Defence Act of 1909. Under this Act the maximum pension payable for total and permanent disablement could not exceed 21s. a week for a private. There was no provision for the payment of a pension for the dependants of a disabled soldier, and the provisions for the widows and other dependants of deceased servicemen were very restrictive. In fact, before a widow could receive a pension, it was a necessary condition that the husband should have been killed in action or died of wounds within 12 months of being wounded. Even then the widow's pension was not conferred as of right, but was payable only if she was not “in wealthy circumstances”. The relatively low rates of pension can be gauged by the fact that the maximum pension for the widow of a private or non-commissioned officer was £36 a year, with a further £10 a year for each dependent child.

It was not until after the commencement of the First World War, 1914–18, that a comprehensive scheme was implemented, through the War Pensions Act of 1915, to provide pensions and allowances for members of the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force and their dependants. From time to time the scope of the 1915 Act was extended by various amendments to cover the growing needs of disabled ex-servicemen and their dependants. The investigations of two commissions of inquiry, one in 1922 under the chairmanship of J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., and the other in 1930 under the chairmanship of J. S. Barton, S.M., had important influences on subsequent legislation. A landmark of note was the passing in October 1935 of the War Veterans' Allowances Act, making special provision for those who, having served with a unit in actual engagement with the enemy, had become unfit for permanent employment.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 the War Pensions Extension Act 1940 was passed (later amended to include members of the Emergency Reserve Corps) to ensure that the existing legislation would be available to servicemen of the new war. Separate but similar provision was made for members of the Mercantile Marine through the War Pensions and Allowances (Mercantile Marine) Act 1940. A comprehensive review of the whole legislation was again undertaken, and the War Pensions Act of 1943 incorporated existing measures relating to pensions and allowances and generally improved rates and conditions. In October 1950, as a result of demands for better and more adequate pensions, a further commission under the chairmanship of E. A. Lee, S.M., was set up to examine the justice and adequacy of existing war pension legislation. As a result of the findings of this commission, many improvements in rates and conditions were made and eventually incorporated in the current operative authority (the War Pensions Act of 1954 and its amendments).

In 1917 a special Commission, called the Imperial War Graves Commission, was set up in the United Kingdom by Royal Charter, and was given the task of commemorating by name every serviceman and woman of the Commonwealth who lost his or her life in the Great War of 1914–18. Many of the graves of the war dead were located in churchyards and other established cemeteries, but a great number were scattered throughout the world's battlefields. In addition, there was a large number of casualties who had no known grave. In the course of its work the Commission set up special “war” cemeteries into which it concentrated all those graves which were either too dispersed to be properly maintained, or were not already in a proper cemetery. The Commission erected headstones on every grave and set up arrangements for the maintenance of each grave “in perpetuity”. It also arranged for the erection of special memorials on which were inscribed the names of all those who gave their lives and whose graves are unknown.

At a later date the Commission's activities were extended to include the dead of the Second World War. It now has in its charge over one and a quarter million war graves, located in almost every country in the world. New Zealand was not a war theatre in either of the world wars; there were therefore comparatively few New Zealand service personnel who lost their lives (by sickness or accident) within the country. For that reason there was no need for the Commission to set up “war” cemeteries here. Instead, it arranged for the Government to assume responsibility for the erection of headstones, the maintenance of graves, and the provision of memorials to those who lost their lives in or around our shores and who have no known grave. For the purpose of carrying out this work the Department of Internal Affairs set up a War Graves Branch.

The responsibility of the Commission – which was renamed the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1959 – extends only to those who lost their lives during wartime or who died within a short time thereafter as a result of their war service.

In New Zealand, however, the task of commemorating those who sacrificed their lives for their country in time of war was carried a stage further by the decision to commemorate the war veterans who died in the post-war years – irrespective of whether death was due to their war service or to natural causes. For that purpose the Government, after discussions with the New Zealand Returned Services' Association, decided to create special servicemen's cemeteries. There are now 127 of them throughout the country. They are similar in principle to the Commission's cemeteries overseas, and they are available for the interment of personnel of the services and Merchant Navy of New Zealand, as well as those of other Commonwealth and allied countries who die in New Zealand, provided that they have had war service.

In addition to the two World Wars, war service includes service in the Maori Wars, the South African War, the Korean War, and the operations in Malaya.

The setting aside of these special cemeteries is a joint undertaking in which local bodies, branches of the R.S.A., and the Department of Internal Affairs take part. The land, generally a portion of a public cemetery, is donated by a local body at the request of the R.S.A.; it is developed and laid out by the Department. The day-to-day maintenance is undertaken either by the local body or the R.S.A. branch concerned with the assistance of an annual grant from the Department which also carries out major maintenance work as it becomes necessary.

There are 127 of these cemeteries in New Zealand and others are being provided as required. The majority are plaque cemeteries in which the individual memorial consists of a bronze plaque; many of the older ones, however, use headstones of natural or manufactured stone. As far as possible the principle of equality is maintained throughout each cemetery, no grave differing in character from its neighbour. For that reason the inscription on each plaque or headstone is standard, varying only in name and particulars of service. Plots are free and where death, irrespective of when it occurs, is due to or accelerated by war service, the plaque or headstone is also free. Where death is not due to war service, the memorial is supplied through the Department at a reduced price.

In addition to supervising servicemen's cemeteries throughout the country and arranging for the provision of plaques and headstones, the War Graves Branch maintains complete records of all New Zealand war dead who are buried overseas, and it supplies details for the information of relatives. A similar record is maintained for all post-war deaths within New Zealand.

The Department acts as the agent of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for all purposes in New Zealand, and the War Graves Branch distributes within the country the many publications which emanate from the Commission in the course of its work on war graves overseas. The Branch also arranges payment of New Zealand's share of the expenses incurred by the Commission in its work of caring for overseas graves and for the New Zealand Battle Memorials in France, Belgium, and Gallipoli.

In addition to its work on servicemen's graves, the War Graves Branch also assists in the maintenance of pioneer and other historical graves and monuments throughout the country.

by Alexander Russell, War Graves Branch, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

Warehou (Seriolella brama) are sometimes erroneously called trevally (though they do belong to the trevally family). They resemble trevally in general shape and colouring (blue-green above, silver below, with a dark blotch just behind the head), but differ in lacking bony scales (scutes) on the side of the body near the tail. Large specimens reach 3 ft in length. They are schooling fish, found to a depth of 50 fathoms, occurring mainly off the South Island and the southern part of the North Island.

by Lawrence James Paul, B.SC., Fisheries Division, Marine Department, Wellington.