166
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
No. 6

3. Pending the consideration of such recommendation by the Minister of Defence the Board shall postpone the determination of the appeal.
4. The Minister of Defence shall thereupon take the recommendation of the Board into consideration, and may either approve of the same, with or without modification, or may reject the same, and shall notify the Board of his determination accordingly.
5. The Board shall thereupon proceed to determine the appeal in the following manner:—
   (a.) If the Minister of Defence has approved of the recommendation of the Board without modifications, the appeal shall be dismissed.
   (b.) If the Minister of Defence has rejected the recommendation of the Board, the appeal may be allowed.
   (c.) If the Minister of Defence has approved of the recommendation of the Board with modifications, and the Board is satisfied that the financial assistance so approved by the Minister is sufficient to avoid undue hardship, the appeal shall be dismissed; but if the Board is not so satisfied, the appeal may be allowed.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO VOLUNTARY RECRUITS.

6. Every Military Service Board established under the Military Service Act, 1916, is hereby constituted a Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, for the purposes of these regulations, and shall exercise the jurisdiction hereby conferred, in addition to the jurisdiction conferred by the Military Service Act, 1916.
7. In exercising the jurisdiction conferred by these regulations a Military Service Board shall act, so far as may be, in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Military Service Act, 1916, and the regulations made thereunder, with respect to appeals by men called up for military service under that Act.
8. The term “voluntary recruit” as hereinafter used means any man who has voluntarily enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, whether before or after the date of these regulations.
9. If the Minister of Defence has reason to believe, on application made to him by or on behalf of a voluntary recruit, that such voluntary recruit is serving in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in such circumstances that his service is a cause of undue hardship to himself or to persons dependent on him, and that such hardship may be avoided by the grant of financial assistance under these regulations, the Minister may, if he thinks fit, refer the matter to a Military Service Board for inquiry and report.
10. On any such reference the Board shall hear and determine the matter so referred, and shall report to the Minister of Defence whether in the opinion of the Board any such avoidable hardship exists, and shall recommend the grant to the recruit, in accordance with these regulations, of such financial assistance (if any) as the Board considers just and reasonable.
11. The Board shall cause due notice of the time and place of any such inquiry to be given to the Commandant and to such other persons (if any) as the Board may think entitled to be heard.
12. The Minister of Defence shall thereupon take such report and recommendation into consideration, and may, if he thinks fit, approve, either wholly or as to any part thereof, of the recommendation so made.

GENERAL.

13. All financial assistance approved by the Minister of Defence under these regulations shall be afforded from the public revenues available for the pay of soldiers of the Expeditionary Force.
14. All moneys so payable under these regulations by way of financial assistance for a member of the Expeditionary Force shall be expended on his behalf under the authority of the Minister of Defence, and in such manner as that Minister from time to time thinks fit.
15. On the death of any member of the Expeditionary Force for whom financial assistance has been so provided, the like assistance may, if the Minister of Defence thinks fit, be continued, in whole or in part, in favour of the wife, children, or any dependant of the deceased for any period not exceeding twenty-six weeks after his death.
16. If at any time after financial assistance has been so provided for any member of the Expeditionary Force such assistance is considered by the Minister of Defence to have become unnecessary, he may refer the matter to a Military Service Board, and may, on the recommendation of that Board, discontinue, in whole or in part, the assistance so provided.