The third annual report of the Minister of Pensions (from April, 1919, to April, 1920) is to hand. It gives in useful summary the changes in pensions legislation and administration during that period, and offers an explanation of the increase in the staff. The statistics
clear: embodied in the report are very The revised Royal Warrant embodying most of the concessions recommended by the Select Committee on Pensions came into effect on September 3, 1919. (The provisions of that warrant have been already published.) Its administrative effects are explained in this report. All current awards had to be revised. The new claims provided for had to be investigated. Whilst in 1919 503,975 awards were made, in 1920 the number had increased to'680,923, In all there were 1,038,905 surveys and resurveys by Medical Boards. Treatment as in-patients was provided for 96,829 cases, and as out-patients for 200,486.
ToTaL OF BENEFICIARIES, The total of beneficiaries on March 31,. 1920, was 3,344,506, of these about 35 per cent, were the wives and children of disabled men. The actual pensions in payment on the same date were 1,586,256, of which 1,030,243 were to disabled men and 556,013 to widows and dependents of the dead.
The report justifies the increase of staff from 12,223 to 19,121 (apart from institutional staff) by pointing out the increase of work. 1t explains the system of decentralization, which has been adopted, and gives a review of the treatment work. The total number of beds kept available for the—hospital treatment of beneficiaries was 12,236 (compared with 2,160 the previous year). The Ministry has its own hospitals, and also uses civil hospitals. It has established a supplies section, and has effected economies in this way, the daily food cost per patient having been reduced from 2s. 74d. to 2s, 1}d.
Among other interesting facts noted is that the Ministry bought for a small sum the copyright of a book on left-hand writing. Copies are supplied ae to officers and men who have their right lost hands.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.