Nov. 23.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 3501

or the Registrar, or any person authorized by the Magistrate, may inquire into the same, and for the purpose of such inquiry free access shall be given to—

(1.) The registers and records of any State Department or office;

(2.) All real and personal property of the applicant, and all books, vouchers, and documents relating to such property, or to the income of the applicant.

(b.) The powers of inquiry and search hereby given shall be limited to specified pensioners or applicants for pension, and shall not be construed as authorizing any general search or inquiry.

(c.) It shall be the duty of all officers of the aforesaid Departments and offices, and of any bank, insurance company, or other corporation carrying on business in New Zealand, and of all officers of the Post-Office Savings-Bank, and of any other Government Department which receives investments of money from the public, and of any private individual, to make true answers to all questions, and to afford, without fee, all such information as may be reasonably required for the purpose of prosecuting such inquiry as aforesaid.

(d.) The Magistrate may, in his discretion, accept as testimony for or against the claim—

(1.) A statutory declaration made by any reputable person, who therein declares to what he knows of his own knowledge to be true; or

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

(3.) The sworn spoken evidence of any reputable person who deposes to what he knows to be true; or

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

(e.) The valuations for the time being appearing in the general valuation roll under the Valuation of Land Act, 1908, shall, so far as the same are applicable, be used for the purpose of assessing the value of the property of applicants for the pension.

8. No pension-claim shall be admitted unless the evidence of the applicant is corroborated on all material points.

9. If by reason of physical disability or other sufficient cause the applicant is unable to attend the investigation, and the Magistrate is satisfied that the documentary evidence in support of the claim is sufficient to establish or reject it, he shall not require the personal attendance of the applicant.

10. For the purposes of such investigation, all the powers under the Magistrates’ Court Act, 1908, and the Old-age Pensions Act, 1908, shall be available for compelling the attendance of witnesses or obtaining corroboration of an applicant’s statements, and every witness shall be examined on oath.

11. The Registrar, or some person appointed by him, shall have the right to appear at the investigation of any claim, and to examine or cross-examine the applicant or any witness.

12. The pension-claim, with a minute of the Magistrate’s decision indorsed thereon, shall be filed by the Registrar, and each decision shall be notified by the Magistrate to the Registrar, who shall in turn advise the applicant and note the purport thereof in the Claim Register.

13. If the Magistrate’s decision is that the claim is rejected, his notification to the Registrar shall specify the grounds for rejection, and, after being noted in the Claim Register, shall be forwarded to the Commissioner, who shall record and file the same.

14. If the Magistrate decides that the claim is established, he shall forward to the Registrar a certificate of establishment in the form numbered 2 in the Schedule hereto.

15. Upon receipt of the said certificate, the Registrar, after noting the Claim Register, shall enter the contents thereof in the Pension Register hereinafter referred to, and, after indorsing thereon the next available number therein, shall then forward it to the Commissioner, who shall record and file the same.

16. The Commissioner shall, in respect of each Magistrate’s certificate of establishment received by him, having regard to the provisions of the said Act, issue a pension-certificate in the form numbered 3 in the Schedule hereto.

PENSION REGISTER.

17. The Pension Register shall contain particulars of each Magistrate’s certificate, and also of each transfer warrant received by the Registrar, and all entries therein shall be numbered consecutively so that no two entries in the same register shall bear the same number. There shall also be recorded therein particulars of any circumstance affecting the payment of a pension, and the Registrar shall, in respect of every such record, the notification of which is not otherwise provided for in these regulations, forthwith advise the Commissioner in writing, or by telegraph if the record relates to the payment of any instalment the due date of which has passed.

PENSION-CERTIFICATES.

18. The pension-certificate shall set out on the face thereof the office of payment and also the date on which the first instalment falls due, which in the case of the first year’s pension shall be the first day of the calendar month next after the date of the making of the claim, and the same date in each year thereafter.

19. If a pension-certificate is lost, destroyed, or mutilated, the pensioner or her duly authorized agent appointed under these regulations may make application by statutory declaration to the Registrar or Postmaster, who shall forward the application to the Commissioner with his recommendation. After satisfying himself that the original certificate has been lost, destroyed, or mutilated, as the case may be, the Commissioner shall issue a duplicate certificate, which shall bear across its face the word “Duplicate,” and he shall instruct the paying-office to pay on duplicate certificate only: Provided that the issue of such duplicate may be delayed by the Commissioner at his discretion for a period not exceeding one month from the date of the application, to give an opportunity for the finding of the original.

20. The application for transfer of a pension from one district to another shall be made in writing, and with respect thereto the following provisions shall apply:—

(a.) It shall not be granted unless the Registrar to whom the application is made is satisfied that the pensioner is about to change or has permanently changed her residence to the new district, nor unless the pension-certificate is lodged with the application, for which latter a receipt shall be issued as a subsequent means of identification.

(b.) For the purpose of effecting the transfer the Registrar of the district in which the pension is registered shall issue a transfer warrant, and shall transmit the same, together with the pension-certificate and all papers relating to the original granting of the pension and any renewal thereof, to the Registrar of the new district.

(c.) The Registrar issuing the transfer warrant shall note the transfer in his Pension Register, and shall forthwith forward the application duly noted by him to the Commissioner, who shall issue the necessary instructions to the paying office.

(d.) The Registrar receiving the aforesaid warrant and pension-certificate shall note the contents of the warrant in his Pension Register, and, after supplying the new number by which it is recorded, forward it by first mail to the Commissioner, and in exchange for the receipt previously issued for the pension-certificate shall deliver the said certificate to the pensioner or to the duly authorized agent appointed under these regulations, having first noted thereon the new number and the names of the new district and paying office.

(e.) The receipt for the pension-certificate shall be attached to the pensioner’s former papers, which shall be filed by the Registrar.

21. If the pensioner or other person duly authorized to receive payment of the instalments of a pension desires that the office of payment only shall be changed, she or he shall make application in the form numbered 4 in the Schedule hereto to the Postmaster or to the Registrar of the district in which she or he may be residing, and in support thereof shall produce the pension-certificate. The officer receiving the application, after noting the change of office of payment on the pension-certificate, which he shall return to the applicant, shall forward the application to the Commissioner, who shall issue the necessary instructions to the paying office.

PAYMENT OF PENSIONS.

22. The Commissioner shall, in respect of every pension granted, provided payment has not been stopped for any reason, transmit to the paying office in every month a form of advice of payment of the instalment falling due on the first day of the following month, and such advice shall constitute the form of receipt for the said instalment.

23. When receiving payment of any instalment of a pension, the payee shall give a receipt for the same, and when making payment the paying officer shall note on the back of the produced pension-certificate the date and fact of such payment by affixing thereto his signature and office stamp: Provided that the paying officer, if not satisfied as to the identity of the payee, shall withhold payment and report to the Commissioner.