I move the Second Reading of the Superannuation and Pensions Bill. The purpose of the Bill is twofold. As Deputies are aware, provision was made in the Superannuation and Pensions Act for the granting of pensions to former members of the R.I.C. who had been dismissed or who had resigned in consequence of their national sympathies, so that they should receive pensions approximately equal to those they would have received if they had continued in the R.I.C. up to the date of disbandment. In the actual administration of it men who had served only two or three years were not awarded pensions, the view being taken that the sacrifice they had made was not greater than was made by ordinary civilians in large numbers. Very few of the men who resigned stated they resigned because of their national sympathies. In the great majority of cases they said they resigned for family reasons, or to take up other work, or something of that nature. That was quite natural, because the men who resigned were subject to a great deal of danger. If we were satisfied, after examination, that by their previous or subsequent conduct they resigned really because of their national sympathies we did not pay much attention to the reasons they gave for resigning. A Committee was set up to deal with these cases before the Act was passed. That Committee, amongst other cases, had passed some twenty-one men who had actually succeeded in retiring on the ground of ill-health and getting gratuities from the British authorities.
When the Act was being passed it was believed these men would be entitled to pensions the same as others, but when the Act was being administered advice was received from the Attorney-General, on the question being raised, that the men who retired on medical grounds were men who had neither resigned nor been dismissed, and consequently were not entitled to pensions. This Bill is to enable pensions to be paid to these men. What happened in the case of those men is that they went off on leave and succeeded in inducing friendly doctors to give certificates on grounds which were not justified. They received grants of from £30 to £200 or £300 from the British Government. They were a little more cautious, shall we say, and were paying a little more attention to their own interests than the men who said they had resigned for family reasons or in order to take up other posts. Nevertheless, it is clear that in these cases, or certainly as regards some of them, they will be more closely looked into if this Bill is passed. Certainly in some of these cases they resigned for national motives, and they were advised that as they could get a gratuity they might as well take it. It is proposed to pay these men pensions from the date of the passage of this Bill. They began by getting money where others were satisfied to go without it, and if they are to be at some little disadvantage now, that is not altogether unjustifiable.
With regard to the other part of the Bill, which provides that the widow of a resigned or dismissed R.I.C. man may be paid a pension after his death, the fact that that is now necessary is due to an oversight. The men who actually remained in the R.I.C. and got R.I.C. pensions have this advantage too, that if they die their widows have the pensions, and it is felt in the case of the resigned and dismissed R.I.C. men there should also be provision for a widow's pension. The pension paid to a widow under the British scheme is £30. It is proposed that it shall be paid to the widow if the resigned or dismissed R.I.C. man had been actually married before his resignation or dismissal. I think there are very few pensioners who have actually died leaving widows, and the amount of the cost to the Exchequer under that head will be comparatively small. The total charge that would result from the passing of the Bill will be about £2,000 per annum.