(2) Such regulations shall be laid on the table of the House of Representatives within ten days after the commencement of each session, and referred to such sessional committee for report as the House directs.

An Act To amend the Widows' Pensions Act, 1911. (7th November, 1912.) Be it enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. This act may be cited as the Widows' Pensions Amendment Act, 1912, and shall form part of and be read together with the Widows' Pensions Act, 1911 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act).

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2. In the principal act and this act, unless a contrary intention appears, the expression widow" shall be deemed to extend to and include any woman whose husband is detained in an institution under the Mental Defectives Act, 1911, if the magistrate to whom application for a pension certificate under the principal act is made finds, upon the certificate of the medical superintendent of the institution, that the husband is incurable or likely to be incurable for the period of at least twelve months after the granting of a pension certificate.

3. Section two of the principal act is hereby amended by omitting from the definition of "pension year" the words "made on which that certificate is issued," and substituting the word "established."

4. (1) Notwithstanding anything in section five of the principal act, that act shall apply to

(a) Any child born out of New Zealand if its mother was only temporarily absent from New Zealand at the time of its birth; and

(b) Any child born out of New Zealand if its mother has continuously resided in New Zealand for not less than ten years immediately preceding the date of an application for a pension under the principal act: Provided, That continuous residence in New Zealand shall not be deemed to have been interrupted by occasional absences therefrom if she establishes the fact that during such absences her family or home was in New Zealand.

(2) Section five of the principal act is hereby amended by repealing paragraph (e) thereof.

5. Section five of the principal act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (b) the words "unless legitimated by the subsequent marriage of the parents," and substituting the words "unless after the birth of the child its parents have intermarried."

6. (1) The term "annual income" as used in the principal act and this act means all moneys, valuable consideration, or profits derived or received from

1 Passed to meet certain difficulties and inequalities that had arisen in the operation of the law of 1911. For legislative history of this amendment, see New Zealand. Parliamentary debates, 1912, v. 158: 148, 157-8, 160; v. 159: 168; v. 160: 549; v. 161: 62–8, 171-2, 174–5, 212, 217, 223-4, 231, 529-32, 636, 662, 696.

2 Up to March 31, 1913, the benefits of the pension had been extended under this amendment to 28 wives of inmates of insane asylums, who were the mothers of young children.

any source for the year immediately preceding the pension year by a widow and any of her children to whom the principal act as amended by this act applies, for their own use or benefit, and includes the constructive income computed in accordance with subsection three of this section, but does not include any pension payable under the principal act, nor any relief received from any charitable institution, nor any capital moneys belonging to a widow or any of her children to whom the principal act as amended by this act applies withdrawn from a bank and expended for the benefit of the widow or her children: Provided, That where a widow is at the date of her application entitled to receive from any source during the pension year periodical payments of money on behalf of herself or of any of her children as aforesaid such money shall be included in the computation of the annual income, although no part thereof was actually received during the year immediately preceding the pension year. (2) There shall be deducted from the annual income any personal earnings of the applicant not exceeding the sum of one hundred pounds.

(3) If a widow or any of her children to whom the principal act applies is the owner of any property (other than furniture and personal effects) which produces no income, or which produces an income less than five per centum of the value of that property, the widow or child shall for the purposes of this act be deemed to be in receipt from that property of an annual income equal to five per centum of the value thereof.

(4) If a widow or any of her children to whom the principal act applies is in receipt of any income which is partly derived from property and is partly personal earnings in respect of that property, the magistrate to whom the application for a pension certificate is made shall apportion that income in such manner as he thinks just between the income derived from such property and such personal earnings.

(5) Money received on the sale or exchange of land or other property and money received under an insurance policy on the destruction or damage by fire or otherwise of a building or other property shall not be included in the computation of the annual income.

(6) This section is in substitution for section eight of the principal act, which section is hereby repealed accordingly.

7. (1) In addition to the powers conferred by section twenty-three of the principal act, the magistrate may at any time, on the application of the commissioner, review any pension certificate during the currency thereof on the ground of the altered circumstances of the pensioner, and may either cancel the same or vary the same in such manner as he thinks fit, having regard to the provisions of the principal act and this act.

(2) Any order so made by the magistrate shall take effect as from the date of the order, or from such other date as is fixed by the order.

8. Notwithstanding anything in section twenty of the principal act. if a widow in receipt of a pension dies, the guardian or other person for the time being having the care or control of her children to whom the act applies shall, subject to the provisions of the said act and with the approval of the commissioner, be entitled to receive the pension to which the widow would have been entitled in respect of her children if she had lived.1

1 The total deaths of widows receiving pensions up to March 31, 1913, was 18. In 14 of these cases application was made and authority given for the continuance of the pensions to the guardians of the children.

REGULATIONS UNDER THE WIDOWS' PENSIONS ACT, 1911.

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Pursuant to and in exercise of the powers in this behalf conferred upon him by the Widows' Pensions Act, 1911 (hereinafter referred to as the said act "), His Excellency the Governor of the Dominion of New Zealand, acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, doth hereby, for the purposes of the said act, make the following regulations, that is to say:

REGULATIONS.

Interpretation.

1. In these regulations "magistrate" means a stipendiary magistrate; "income year means the year ending one month prior to the commencement of any pension year.

Original pension claims.

2. The original pension claim shall be in the form numbered 1 in the schedule hereto, and shall be issued only to or on behalf of a bona fide applicant for the pension. The claim shall be delivered to the registrar of the district in which the applicant resides, and such date of delivery, which shall be plainly stamped on the claim, shall be deemed to be the date of the making of the claim. 3. Where a pension claim is signed by a Maori applicant, or by any applicant who is the owner of native land, there shall be annexed a statement setting forth particulars of any customary rights or interest held in any block of land, whether under defined legal title or native custom, and such statement shall be deemed to be part of the pension claim to which it is expressed to refer, and there shall be indorsed thereon a certificate by a Government officer, to be given without fee, that the contents thereof were fully explained to and appeared to be fully understood by the applicant.

4. Each registrar shall keep a claim register in which all claims delivered to him shall be recorded and numbered consecutively in the order in which they are entered, so that no two entries shall bear the same number.

5. The registrar, after recording a claim and noting thereon its registered claim number, shall forthwith proceed to verify the statements of the applicant by the forms provided for the purpose, and while awaiting replies to his inquiries he shall forward the claim to the commissioner for the registrar general's certificate as to widowhood and the parentage and age of the children under the age of fourteen referred to therein, and for such particulars as to ownership of property as are obtainable from the various departments of State. 6. On return of the claim from the commissioner it shall be forwarded by the registrar, with replies to all inquiries made, to the magistrate exercising jurisdiction in the district, who shall on a date fixed for the investigation thereof proceed in open court, or, in his discretion, in chambers, to ascertain whether the applicant is entitled to a pension.

7. In connection with the investigation of pension claims the following provisions shall apply:

(a) If in the course of investigation evidence is required on any specific matter, the commissioner, or the registrar, or any person authorized by the magistrate, may inquire into the same, and for the purpose of such inquiry free access shall be given to

(1) The registers and records of any State department or office.

(2) All real and personal property of the applicant, and all books, vouchers. and documents relating to such property or to the income of the applicant.

(b) The powers of inquiry and search hereby given shall be limited to specified pensioners or applicants for pension, and shall not be construed as authorizing any general search or inquiry.

(c) It shall be the duty of all officers of the aforesaid departments and offices, and of any bank, insurance company, or other corporation carrying on business in New Zealand, and of all officers of the Post Office Savings Bank, and of any other Government department which receives investments of money from the public, and of any private individual to make true answers to all questions, and to afford, without fee, all such information as may be reasonably required for the purpose of prosecuting such inquiry as aforesaid.

(d) The magistrate may, in his discretion, accept as testimony for or against the claim

(1) A statutory declaration made by any reputable person, who therein declares to what he knows of his own knowledge to be true; or

(2) Any other documentary evidence, whether strictly legal evidence or not; or

(3) The sworn spoken evidence of any reputable person who deposes to what he knows to be true; or

(4) The knowledge or observation of the magistrate himself.

(e) The valuations for the time being appearing in the general valuation roll under the Valuation of Land Act, 1908, shall, so far as the same are applicable, be used for the purpose of assessing the value of the property of applicants for the pension.

8. No pension claim shall be admitted unless the evidence of the applicant is corroborated on all material points.

9. If by reason of physical disability or other sufficient cause the applicant is unable to attend the investigation, and the magistrate is satisfied that the documentary evidence in support of the claim is sufficient to establish or reject it, he shall not require the personal attendance of the applicant.

10. For the purposes of such investigation, all the powers under the Magistrates' Court Act, 1908, and the Old-age Pensions Act, 1908, shall be available for compelling the attendance of witnesses or obtaining corroboration of an applicant's statements, and every witness shall be examined on oath.

11. The registrar, or some person appointed by him, shall have the right to appear at the investigation of any claim and to examine or cross-examine the applicant or any witness.

12. The pension claim, with a minute of the magistrate's decision indorsed thereon, shall be filed by the registrar, and each decision shall be notified by the magistrate to the registrar, who shall in turn advise the applicant and note the purport thereof in the claim register.

13. If the magistrate's decision is that the claim is rejected, his notification to the registrar shall specify the grounds for rejection, and, after being noted in the claim register, shall be forwarded to the commissioner, who shall record and file the same.

14. If the magistrate decides that the claim is established, he shall forward to the registrar a certificate of establishment in the form numbered 2 in the schedule hereto.

15. Upon receipt of the said certificate, the registrar, after noting the claim register, shall enter the contents thereof in the pension register hereinafter referred to, and, after indorsing thereon the next available number therein, shall then forward it to the commissioner, who shall record and file the same.

16. The commissioner shall, in respect of each magistrate's certificate of establishment received by him, having regard to the provisions of the said act, issue a pension certificate in the form numbered 3 in the schedule hereto.

Pension register.

17. The pension register shall contain particulars of each magistrate's certificate, and also of each transfer warrant received by the registrar, and all entries therein shall be numbered consecutively so that no two entries in the same register shall bear the same number. There shall also be recorded therein particulars of any circumstance affecting the payment of a pension, and the registrar shall, in respect of every such record, the notification of which is not otherwise provided for in these regulations, forthwith advise the commissioner in writing, or by telegraph if the record relates to the payment of any installment the due date of which has passed.

Pension certificates.

18. The pension certificate shall set out on the face thereof the office of payment and also the date on which the first installment falls due, which in the case of the first year's pension shall be the first day of the calendar month next after the date of the making of the claim, and the same date in each year thereafter.

19. If a pension certificate is lost, destroyed, or mutilated, the pensioner or her duly authorized agent appointed under these regulations may make application by statutory declaration to the registrar or postmaster, who shall

forward the application to the commissioner with his recommendation. After satisfying himself that the original certificate has been lost (destroyed, or mutilated, as the case may be, the commissioner shall issue a duplicate certificate, which shall bear across its face the word "Duplicate," and he shall instruct the paying office to pay on duplicate certificate only: Provided, That the issue of such duplicate may be delayed by the commissioner, at his discretion, for a period not exceeding one month from the date of the application, to give an opportunity for the finding of the original.

20. The application for transfer of a pension from one district to another shall be made in writing, and with respect thereto the following provisions shall apply:

(a) It shall not be granted unless the registrar to whom the application is made is satisfied that the pensioner is about to change or has permanently changed her residence to the new district, nor unless the pension certificate is lodged with the application, for which latter a receipt shall be issued as a subsequent means of identification.

(b) For the purpose of effecting the transfer the registrar of the district in which the pension is registered shall issue a transfer warrant, and shall transmit the same, together with the pension certificate and all papers relating to the original granting of the pension and any renewal thereof, to the registrar of the new district.

(c) The registrar issuing the transfer warrant shall note the transfer in his pension register, and shall forthwith forward the application duly noted by him to the commissioner, who shall issue the necessary instructions to the paying office.

(d) The registrar receiving the aforesaid warrant and pension certificate shall note the contents of the warrant in his pension register, and, after supplying the new number by which it is recorded, forward it by first mail to the commissioner, and in exchange for the receipt previously issued for the pension certificate shall deliver the said certificate to the pensioner or to the duly authorized agent appointed under these regulations, having first noted thereon the new number and the names of the new district and paying office.

(e) The receipt for the pension certificate shall be attached to the pensioner's former papers, which shall be filed by the registrar.

21. If the pensioner or other person duly authorized to receive payment of the installments of a pension desires that the office of payment only shall be changed, she or he shall make application in the form numbered 4 in the schedule hereto to the postmaster or to the registrar of the district in which she or he may be residing, and in support thereof shall produce the pension certificate. The officer receiving the application, after noting the change of office of payment on the pension certificate, which he shall return to the applicant, shall forward the application to the commissioner, who shall issue the necessary instructions to the paying office.

Payment of pensions.

22. The commissioner shall, in respect of every pension granted, provided payment has not been stopped for any reason, transmit to the paying office in every month a form of advice of payment of the instalment falling due on the first day of the following month, and such advice shall constitute the form of receipt for the said instalment.

23. When receiving payment of any installment of a pension, the payee shall give a receipt for the same, and when making payment the paying officer shall note on the back of the produced pension certificate the date and fact of such payment by affixing thereto his signature and office stamp: Provided, That the paying officer, if not satisfied as to the identity of the payee, shall withhold payment and report to the commissioner.

24. If the payee is other than the pensioner, the payee shall in such receipt certify that to his certain knowledge the pensioner is alive and residing in New Zealand, giving address, and that the installment applied for is properly payable. 25. The paying officer shall, in every case where the last installment covered by a pension certificate has been paid, retain the said certificate, and forward it with his accounts.

26. Whenever any installment is payable under a warrant issued under these regulations, the pension certificate shall be produced by the payee at the time of payment, together with the warrant; and, where the aforesaid warrant relates to a single installment, or the last of a series of installments, it shall be