8502
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 97

24. If the payee is other than the pensioner, the payee shall in such receipt certify that to his certain knowledge the pensioner is alive and residing in New Zealand, giving address, and that the instalment applied for is properly payable.

25. The paying officer shall, in every case where the last instalment covered by a pension-certificate has been paid, retain the said certificate, and forward it with his accounts.

26. Whenever any instalment is payable under a warrant issued under these regulations, the pension-certificate shall be produced by the payee at the time of payment, together with the warrant; and, where the aforesaid warrant relates to a single instalment, or the last of a series of instalments, it shall be delivered up to and retained by the paying officer on payment of such instalment, and forwarded with his accounts.

27. In the event of any instalment being paid on production of a lost pension-certificate after the issue of a duplicate of such certificate, or on a pension-certificate during the currency of a warrant directing payment to other than the pensioner, the holder of such duplicate or warrant shall have no claim against His Majesty in respect of the instalment so paid.

28. In the event of any instalment being forfeited in terms of section 17 of the said Act, the pensioner or other person authorized to collect the pension may make application to receive such instalment in writing to the Registrar or to the paying Postmaster, to whom the pension-certificate shall be produced, and such application shall be forwarded for consideration with a recommendation as to payment to the Commissioner, who shall notify his decision direct to the applicant.

AGENTS’ WARRANTS.

29. With respect to a warrant issued in terms of section 18 of the said Act, authorizing payment of instalments to any person for the benefit of the pensioner or of her children, the following provisions shall apply:—

(a.) The application for such warrant shall be made in writing to the Registrar or to the paying Postmaster, and shall be forwarded to the Commissioner, accompanied by the pension-certificate, if the pensioner consents to the application. If the pensioner does not consent to the application and refuses to give up the pension-certificate, the application shall state these facts.

(b.) The proposed payee, who must be a European of good repute, shall have reached the age of twenty-one years.

(c.) The warrant, which shall be signed by the Commissioner, shall be in the form numbered 5 in the Schedule hereto, and shall continue in force only during the currency of the pension-certificate to which it is expressed to relate: Provided that it may be renewed upon the issue of a renewed pension-certificate, and provided that it may be cancelled by the Commissioner at any time for good cause shown.

(d.) No such warrant shall be issued in respect of a pension where the pensioner is absent or about to be absent from the district in which the agent is residing, unless under special circumstances, which shall be set forth in the application.

(e.) The Commissioner shall issue the warrant, together with the pension-certificate if it has been forwarded with the application, direct to the person entitled thereto.

(f.) If the pensioner does not consent to the application and refuses to give up the pension-certificate, then, if the Commissioner thinks fit to issue a warrant, the paying officer shall retain the pension-certificate when next it comes into his hands, and forward it to the Commissioner to be forwarded to the person entitled to the warrant.

(g.) A warrant surrendered to the Registrar at any time, or to the paying officer during its currency, shall be forwarded to the Commissioner without delay.

RENEWALS OF PENSION.

30. For the purpose of ascertaining whether a pensioner is entitled to a renewed pension-certificate, the following provisions shall apply:—

(a.) An application shall be made to the Registrar by the pensioner in the form numbered 6 in the Schedule hereto, immediately after the close of the income-year: Provided that where no application is lodged within three months after the expiry of the said income-year, the Registrar shall strike the pensioner’s name off the Pension Register, and notify the Commissioner that he

has done so, and any subsequent application for a pension shall be made as an original claim, and treated accordingly.

(b.) In order to facilitate the prompt furnishing of the application, the Commissioner shall in each month forward to the Registrar a list of pensions the income-years of which are about to expire, accompanied by a blank form of application in each case, and the said forms of application shall forthwith be issued by the Registrar to the respective pensioners.

(c.) On receipt of the application duly completed, the Registrar shall forthwith proceed to verify the statements of the pensioner by the forms provided for the purpose, and in due course shall transmit the application, with replies to all inquiries made, to the Magistrate exercising jurisdiction in the district.

(d.) The Magistrate shall forthwith proceed to investigate the application in the same manner, with the same powers, and subject to the same provisions as in the case of an original pension-claim with all necessary modifications.

31. Having ascertained that the requirements of the said Act have or have not been conformed to, the Magistrate shall indorse his decision on the application, and shall furnish to the Registrar a certificate in the form numbered 7 in the Schedule hereto, and the Registrar, after noting the purport thereof in the Pension Register, shall forthwith forward the said certificate to the Commissioner, who shall record and file the same: Provided that in every case where any alteration has been made in the amount of property previously owned, or where any change has taken place in the circumstances of a pensioner necessitating a variation in the amount of pension, the Registrar shall supply the Commissioner in writing with particulars of such alteration or change.

32. The Commissioner shall, in respect of each such certificate received by him, having regard to the provisions of the said Act, and provided the certificate shows the pensioner to be entitled thereto, issue a pension-certificate in accordance therewith in exchange for the expired certificate.

33. Where, at the investigation of any application for the renewal of a pension, it is found that by reason of excess of property or income the pensioner is no longer qualified to receive the pension, or has drawn any pension in excess of the amount allowed by law, the Registrar shall make application to the Magistrate to have the pension-certificate then current cancelled forthwith; and the Registrar shall, in the event of any instalment having been collected subsequent to the receipt of such excess of property or income, call upon the pensioner to make refund of such instalments so collected.

PROCEEDINGS UNDER SECTIONS 23, 24, AND 25.

34. Any inquiry under section 23 of the said Act shall be disposed of in the same manner and with the same powers as in the investigation of a pension-claim, and for that purpose the provisions of the said Act and of these regulations shall apply with all necessary modifications. The decision of the Magistrate shall be notified to the Registrar in writing, and, after being noted in the Pension Register, shall be forwarded to the Commissioner, who shall record and file the same, and take such action as is necessary to comply with the terms thereof.

35. Where, as a result of any such inquiry or by any other means, it is ascertained that the pensioner has been paid in excess of the amount to which she was by law entitled, or that the pensioner or any person is guilty of fraud and liable to the penalty provided by section 25 of the said Act, and where it is decided by the Commissioner to institute proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court, the said proceedings, in the case of an action for recovery of pension overpaid, shall be by plaint, as provided by the Magistrates’ Courts Act, 1908, and in the case of a prosecution for fraud shall be by information laid in terms of the Justices of the Peace Act, 1908.

36. All proceedings under the said Act whether in respect of an offence heretofore or hereafter committed, or of moneys recoverable under section 24 of the said Act, shall be taken before a Magistrate alone, and may be so taken at any time not exceeding six months from the time when the facts first came to the knowledge of the Commissioner. In all such proceedings the Registrar, or other person appointed by the Commissioner, may appear on behalf of the Commissioner, and the fact that any person so appears shall be sufficient evidence of his authority so to do.

37. No Court fees shall be payable in connection with any proceedings before a Magistrate under these regulations.