I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £7,737 4s. 3d. be granted to make good an Excess on the Grant for Old Age Pensions for the year ended 31st March, 1939.
This is an excess Vote and the excess arose out of the unusual number of payments made through the usual channel, the Post Office, on the last day of the financial year, 1939—a number that it was not anticipated would be reached. It is also due to the fact that, within the last quarter of that year, a greater number of appeals were decided, with the result that a greater quantity of arrears of old age pensions was paid out during that last quarter than was anticipated.
Vote agreed to and reported.