DEC. 13.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2231

Registrar for the district in which the claimant resides, and notify the claimant in the form numbered 4 in the Schedule hereto.

5. The Deputy Registrar shall, in respect of all claims dealt with by him under the last-preceding clause of these regulations, enter in a book to be kept for that purpose a memorandum of the mode in which he has dealt with them.

6. The Deputy Registrar, after filing the pension-claim, and recording it in the Register, shall forthwith note thereon the name of the old-age pension district and the registered number of the claim, and forward it to the Magistrate presiding at the Court held at the place nearest to the residence of the claimant.

7. Under instructions from the Magistrate, the Clerk of the Court shall send to the claimant a notice of the time and place at which he may attend to support his claim. Such notice shall be in the form numbered 5 in the Schedule hereto.

8. The pension-claim, with a minute of the Magistrate’s decision thereon, shall be filed in the Court, and a copy of such minute shall be forwarded to the Deputy Registrar, who shall note the purport thereof in the Pension-claim Register.

9. If the Magistrate’s decision is that the claim is rejected, such minute shall specify all the material points which he finds to be respectively proved, disproved, and not proved.

10. If the Magistrate’s decision is that the claim is established, he shall fix the rate of the first year’s pension, and forward to the Deputy Registrar a certificate thereof, in the form numbered 6 in the Schedule hereto.

11. Forthwith upon receipt of the Magistrate’s certificate the Deputy Registrar shall note the purport thereof in the Pension-claim Register, and issue the pension-certificate in accordance therewith, and then forward the Magistrate’s certificate to the Registrar, who shall file the same.

INVESTIGATION OF PENSION-CLAIMS.

12. In order to facilitate the Magistrate’s investigation of pension-claims the following provisions shall apply:-

(1.) If, in the course of the investigation, the Magistrate considers that further evidence on any specific matter is necessary, he may authorise an officer of his Court, or any other fit person, to inquire into the same, and may accept the result of such inquiry as evidence.

(2.) For the purposes of such inquiry the person so appointed shall have free access to-

(a.) The registers of the Land Transfer and Deeds Registration Offices for the purpose of searching title to land; and also to

(b.) The records of the Supreme Court for the purpose of searching instruments registered under “The Chattels Transfer Act, 1889”; and also to

(c.) The district valuation roll under “The Government Valuation of Land Act, 1896,” for the purpose of ascertaining the particulars and valuation of landed property ; and also to

(d.) The registers and records of the Registrar-General’s Department, for the purposes of information relating to births, deaths, marriages, or ages; and also to

(e.) All real and personal property of the claimant or pensioner, and all books, vouchers, and documents relating to such property or to his income, for the purpose of assessing the same.

(3.) It shall be the duty of all officers of the aforesaid offices and departments to afford, without fee, all reasonable information to the person so appointed, in order to enable him to prosecute such inquiry.

(4.) The Magistrate may also, in his discretion, accept as testimony for or against the claim-

(a.) A statutory declaration made by any clergyman, Justice, Postmaster, or other reputable person, who therein declares to what he either knows of his own knowledge to be true, or from inquiries made by him believes to be true ; or

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

(c.) The sworn spoken evidence of any reputable person who deposes to what, from inquiries made by him, he believes to be true ; or

(d.) The knowledge or observation of the Magistrate himself.

OLD-AGE PENSION REGISTER.

13. The Old-age Pension Register shall be in the form numbered 7 in the Schedule hereto.

14. In addition to the particulars prescribed in section 32 of the principal Act, the Old-age Pension Register shall con-

tain a “ Remarks” column, in which shall be recorded the transfer of a pension-certificate to the Register of another district, the change of office of payment, the issue of a duplicate pension-certificate, the issue of a warrant or of an order of a Court, the cancellation of a warrant or certificate, the forfeiture of a pension or of any instalment, the death of a pensioner, and any other circumstance affecting the payment of a pension. And the Deputy Registrar shall, in respect of every such record, forthwith advise the Registrar thereof, by telegraph and also by notice, in the form numbered 8 in the Schedule hereto.

PENSION-CERTIFICATES, AND MATTERS RELATING THERETO.

15. The pension-certificate shall be in the form numbered 9 in the Schedule hereto ; and the date thereof shall, in the case of the first year’s pension, be the same as the date of the Magistrate’s certificate, and in the case of each subsequent year’s pension the same as the date of the expiry of the last preceding pension-year.

16. If a pensioner loses his pension-certificate, he may make application, by statutory declaration, in the form numbered 10 in the Schedule hereto, to the Deputy Registrar for the district of registry of the lost certificate, for a duplicate certificate; and the Deputy Registrar, if satisfied that the original certificate has been lost, shall issue a duplicate.

17. Such duplicate shall be a duplicate original of the lost certificate, and shall bear across its face the printed word “duplicate,” together with a note in writing under the hand of the Deputy Registrar stating the date on which the duplicate is issued.

18. The application for transfer of a pension-certificate from the Register in one district to the Register in another shall be in the form numbered 11 in the Schedule hereto, and with respect thereto the following provisions shall apply :-

(1.) It shall not be granted unless the Deputy Registrar, to whom the application is made, is satisfied that the applicant has permanently changed his residence to the new district, nor unless the pension-certificate is lodged with the application.

(2.) For the purpose of effecting the transfer the Deputy Registrar shall issue a transfer-warrant in the form numbered 12 in the Schedule hereto, and transmit the same, together with the pension-certificate, to the Deputy Registrar for the new district:

Provided that the transfer-warrant shall not be issued during the period elapsing between the twenty-first day of one month and the seventh day of the following month.

(3.) The Deputy Registrar issuing the warrant shall note the transfer in his Old-age Pension Register.

(4.) The Deputy Registrar to whom the warrant and certificate are transmitted shall file the warrant, and deliver the certificate to the pensioner, having first recorded it in his Register, and noted on it the new number by which it is recorded, the date of the record, and the name of the new district.

PAYMENT OF PENSIONS, AND MATTERS RELATING THERETO.

19. When receiving payment of any instalment of a pension the payee shall give a receipt for the same in the form numbered 13 in the Schedule hereto, and when making the payment the Postmaster or officer making the same shall note on the back of the produced certificate the date and fact of the payment, and affix to such note his initials and office-stamp.

20. If the payee is other than the pensioner, the payee shall in such receipt certify that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the pensioner was living in New Zealand at the due date of the instalment, and is entitled thereto.

21. In the event of any instalment being forfeited under section 39 of the principal Act, the pensioner or other the person entitled to receive payment may make application to the Registrar in the form numbered 14 in the Schedule hereto. The application must in every case be countersigned by the Deputy Registrar for the district in which the applicant resides.

22. The Registrar shall indorse his decision upon the application, and return the latter to the applicant. If the application is granted, the application so indorsed must be delivered up to the Postmaster by the payee when receiving payment of the instalment to which it relates.

23. With respect to warrants under section 43 of the principal Act, authorising payment of instalments of a pension to the governing body of a charitable institution, the following provisions shall apply :-

(1.) The application for the warrant shall be in the form numbered 15 in the Schedule hereto, and shall specify-

(a.) The name of every pensioner to which it relates ;