Feb. 19.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 503

forthwith record it in his Old-age Pension Register, and issue it to the person entitled thereto.

(10.) The Deputy Registrar shall in each instance advise the Registrar of the issue of the warrant, as provided in Regulation 20, setting out the full name, occupation, and address of the appointee, and the Registrar shall advise the Post Office to pay to agent only.

(11.) All surrendered and cancelled warrants shall be forwarded to the Registrar without delay, accompanied by an advice on Form 8 of such surrender or cancellation.

RENEWALS OF PENSION.

39. The income and property statement, which by section 35 of the principal Act each pensioner is required to furnish yearly to the Deputy Registrar, shall be in the form numbered 19 in the Schedule hereto, and shall, in the case of each yearly statement, be furnished by the pensioner immediately after the close of the income year, which in each year shall be the date one month prior to the anniversary of the original granting of the pension :

Provided that in every case where an income and property statement is not furnished within three months after the expiry of the income year, the Deputy Registrar shall strike the pensioner’s name off his books, and advise the Registrar on Form 8 that he has done so ; and any subsequent application for renewal of the pension shall be treated as a new claim, and given a new number.

40. In order to facilitate the prompt furnishing of the statements, the Registrar shall forward to the Deputy Registrar each month a blank form of statement for each pensioner whose income year expires during the following month, together with a list of same in the form numbered 20 in the Schedule hereto ; and the Deputy Registrar shall, immediately prior to the close of the income year in each case, despatch the said form of statement, together with a circular in the form numbered 21 in the Schedule hereto, to the last known address of the pensioner, even though the pension has been transferred to another district.

The aforesaid lists shall be duly returned to the Head Office when dealt with.

41. Where the income and property statement is furnished by a Maori pensioner, there shall be indorsed thereon a certificate by a Government officer, as prescribed in the case of a pension-claim.

42. In order to facilitate the investigation of income and property statements furnished by Maori pensioners, it shall be the duty of the Registrars of Native Land Courts, the Public Trustee, the Native Land Purchase Officers, and any other officer having any knowledge thereof, to supply to the Registrar, in so far as the information relates to those Maoris whose names have been furnished to them as pensioners, particulars of the acquisition or disposal of any lands or moneys belonging to such pensioners.

43. The Deputy Registrar, before submitting the statement to the Magistrate, shall satisfy himself, where necessary, with the forms at his disposal, that the contents thereof are correct, and it shall be his bounden duty, where a pensioner has been working during the income year to which the statement relates, to ascertain from the pensioner’s employer, by means of Form G, the amount of income earned.

44. In every case where two or more convictions for drunkenness, or any other conviction for breach of the law as defined by section 8 of the principal Act, have been recorded against a pensioner during the currency of a pension-certificate, or where it has been reported by the Police that a pensioner misspends his pension in drink, the Deputy Registrar shall, at the time of the investigation of the income and property statement, draw the attention of the Magistrate to subsection (3) of section 35 of the principal Act, and oppose the renewal of the pension.

45. The statement shall be dealt with, investigated, and disposed of in the same manner, mutatis mutandis, as in the case of the pension-claim, and for that purpose the provisions of these regulations, and the forms thereunder relating to the investigation of pension-claims, shall apply, with all necessary modifications :

Provided that the Magistrate shall in respect of each investigation, even though the application has been rejected, forward to the Deputy Registrar a certificate in the form numbered 22 in the Schedule hereto, and the Deputy Registrar, after noting the purport thereof in the Old-age Pension Register, shall immediately forward it by registered letter to the Registrar, who shall file the same.

46. The Registrar shall, in respect of each such certificate received by him (provided the certificate shows the pensioner to be entitled thereto), issue a pension-certificate in accordance therewith to the Deputy Registrar, who shall sign the same and transmit it to the pensioner or authorised payee, or to the Postmaster of the post-office where the pension is payable, who shall issue it in exchange for the expired certificate.

47. Where at the granting of the renewal of a pension the pension is varied from that previously payable by reason of an alteration in the amount of the property or income, the Deputy Registrar shall supply the Registrar with particulars and the cause of such alteration.

48. Where, on the application for a renewal of pension by a Maori pensioner, the Magistrate recommends the Native Minister to make an allowance out of the moneys appropriated for Native purposes under “The Civil List Act, 1863,” the Deputy Registrar shall strike the pension off his books, and forthwith advise the Registrar on Form 8.

CERTIFICATES IMPROPERLY OBTAINED.

49. When a Deputy Registrar has good and sufficient reason to believe that any pensioner is not lawfully entitled to the pension he is drawing, or is drawing a larger amount of pension than that to which he is by law entitled, he shall at once telegraph to the Registrar to stop payment, and shall report fully in writing by first mail his reasons for so believing, and the Registrar shall forthwith stop payment, and at his discretion decide what action shall be taken.

50. On receiving instructions from the Registrar as to the nature of the action to be taken, the Deputy Registrar shall forthwith communicate with the pensioner, giving full reasons for the action, and shall then proceed as directed. If the pensioner is taken before the Magistrate the Deputy Registrar shall represent the Department, unless it shall otherwise be decided by the Registrar.

51. Every special inquiry held under section 3 of the Amendment Act, 1902, shall be disposed of in the same manner, mutatis mutandis, as in the case of the pension-claim, and for that purpose the provisions of these regulations, and the forms thereunder relating to the investigation of pension-claims, shall apply, with all necessary modifications.

52. Advice of all decisions shall be promptly sent to the Registrar by the Deputy Registrar, who shall report fully as to the findings of the Magistrate.

53. All moneys received by way of refund, either with or without Court proceedings, shall be paid into the Public Account at the nearest branch of the Bank of New Zealand, or the Post Office Account, to the credit of “The Old-age Pensions Act, 1898,” and the Deputy Registrar shall forward the bank or Post Office receipt to the Registrar without delay, giving particulars of such refund.

CONVICTIONS AND ORDERS OF THE COURT.

54. Whenever by order of the Court a pension-certificate is cancelled or a pension is reduced, or any instalment of a pension is forfeited or made payable under section 49 of the principal Act to another person, or whenever any pensioner is convicted of drunkenness or of any other offence dishonouring him in the public estimation, the Clerk of the Court, where he is not himself the Deputy Registrar, shall forthwith forward to the Deputy Registrar a copy of such order or conviction in the form numbered 23 in the Schedule hereto, and the Deputy Registrar shall forthwith record the same in the Old-age Pension Register, and notify the Registrar by telegraph. If the Clerk of the Court has reason to believe that any person convicted of any offence as defined by section 8 of the principal Act is over sixty-five years of age, it shall be his duty to inquire whether such person is an old-age pensioner.

In every case where a conviction for drunkenness is recorded, the Deputy Registrar shall arrange for the appointment of an agent under section 44, and the Registrar shall advise the Post Office to pay to agent only.

RETURNS.

55. The Deputy Registrar shall despatch to the Registrar, not later than the 3rd day in every month, returns for the preceding month as under :—

(1.) A return, in the form numbered 24 in the Schedule hereto, of all new pensions granted, indicating therein the numbers that have been allotted to transferred pensions. In the event of no new pensions being granted a nil return shall be forwarded.

(2.) A return of the applications for new pensions investigated by the Magistrate and not granted, giving the reasons.

(3.) A return of the renewal certificates forwarded to the Registrar during the month, together with particulars of the applications for renewal refused during the month, and the reason of such refusal.

(4.) A return setting out the amount deposited as fees for inspection of the Pension-claim Register.