Mr. McKenna, who has been sharply criticized for the alleged
niggardliness of the Treasury, retorted with some justice that it was his duty to administer the Act of Parliament and to pay the pensions sanctioned by the House. He made it clear that the capital sum of six millions for supplementary grants would be increased automatically if it proved to be insufficient, and that the money would come out of the Consolidated Fund, and thus could not be cut down by the Treasury authorities in the future. It remains for the Local Committees who administer voluntary funds to come to a working agreement with the Statutory Committee. We can understand the desire of the Local Committees that their extra grants to pensioners should not be counterbalanced by reduc- tions of the supplementary pensions from the State. But there must be some limit to the war pension, just as there is to the oldsage pension, however anxious we may be that the splendid men who have fought and bled for us should be generously provided for. A judicious and not too rigid pensions scheme that can be revised in the light of experience will avert the mistakes and the jobbery that have been too conspicuous in the Civil War pensions system of the United States.
Previous page
