| 15. |
| (1.) | Pension-claim. Every person claiming to be entitled to a pension under this Act shall, in the prescribed manner and form, deliver a claim therefor (elsewhere throughout this Act called a "pension-claim") to the Deputy Registrar of the district wherein the claimant resides, or to the nearest Postmaster, who shall forthwith forward the same to the Deputy Registrar. |
| (2.) | The pension-claim shall affirm all the requirements and negative all the disqualifications under this Act. |
| (3.) | Every claimant shall, by statutory declaration, affirm that the contents of his pension-claim are true and correct in every material point. |
| (4.) | Such declaration may be made before any Justice of the Peace, solicitor, Deputy Registrar, or Postmaster, and shall not be liable to stamp duty. |
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| 16. | Register of pension-claims. The Deputy Registrar shall file the claim, and record it in the prescribed manner in a book, to be called "The District Old-age Pension-claim Register," which shall be open to inspection on payment of a fee of one shilling. |
| 17. | Pension-claims to be numbered. All pension-claims shall be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are entered in the register, so that no two pension-claims in the same register bear the same number. |
| 18. |
| (1.) | Stipendiary Magistrate to investigate. The Deputy Registrar shall, in the prescribed manner, transmit the claim to a Stipendiary Magistrate exercising jurisdiction in the district, who shall in open Court fully investigate the pension-claim for the purpose of ascertaining whether the claimant is entitled to the pension, and, if so, for what amount in respect of the first year. |
| (2.) |
The Clerk of the Magistrate's Court shall ascertain on what date the claim may be investigated, and shall notify the claimant of a date on which he may attend to support his claim, and the Stipendiary Magistrate shall on the day so appointed, or on the first convenient day thereafter, proceed to investigate the same:
Provided that where the Stipendiary Magistrate is satisfied that the documentary evidence in support of the claim is sufficient to establish it, and also that by reason of physical disability or other sufficient cause the attendance of the applicant should be dispensed with, he shall not require the personal attendance of the applicant, who shall he notified accordingly.
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| 19. | Witnesses and evidence on oath. For the purposes of such investigation all the powers under "The Magistrates' Courts Act, 1893," shall be available for the purpose of compelling the attendance of witnesses, and every witness shall be examined on oath. |
| 20. | Evidence to be corroborated. No pension-claim shall be admitted unless the evidence of the claimant is corroborated on all material points, except that in page 6.gif) respect of the age of the claimant the Stipendiary Magistrate, if otherwise satisfied, may dispense with corroborative evidence. |
| 21. | How pension-claim to be dealt with. The Stipendiary Magistrate may admit the pension-claim as originally made, or as modified by the result of his investigations, or may postpone it for further evidence, or reject it, as he deems equitable; and his decision shall be notified to the claimant by the Clerk. |
| 22. | Stipendiary Magistrate may postpone claim. If the Stipendiary Magistrate is of opinion that, although the claim is not completely established, further evidence may be adduced in support thereof, or it may be mended by lapse of time, he shall postpone the claim if the claimant so desires, and in such case all matters as to which the Stipendiary Magistrate is satisfied shall be recorded as proved: Provided that this shall not be a bar to further evidence being adduced in respect of the matter recorded as proved. |
| 23. | Mode of rejecting claim. If the Stipendiary Magistrate decides that the pension-claim is not established, and cannot be mended by postponement for a reasonable time, he shall reject it, and when doing so shall specify in writing all the material points which he finds to be respectively proved, disproved, and not to be proved. |
| 24. | Strict rules of evidence not to be binding. In investigating any pension-claim, the Stipendiary Magistrate shall not be bound by the strict rules of evidence, but shall investigate and determine the matter by such means and in such manner as in equity and good conscience he thinks fit. |
| 25. | Matters to be distinguished. In disposing of material points against the claimant, the Stipendiary Magistrate shall distinguish between what he finds to be disproved and what he finds to be simply unproved or insufficiently proved. |
| 26. | As to matters disproved. In respect of what is found to be disproved, the Stipendiary Magistrate's decision shall be final and conclusive for all purposes. |
| 27. | As to matters unproved. In respect of what is found to be simply unproved or insufficiently proved, the claimant may at any time thereafter adduce fresh evidence on those points before the Stipendiary Magistrate, and in such case all material points previously found by the Stipendiary Magistrate to be proved shall be deemed to be established, and he shall dispose of all other points as in the case of a new pension-claim. |
| 28. | Provisional investigation of pension-claims. In order to facilitate the adjustment of pension-claims they may be filed and provisionally investigated at any time not exceeding two years before the date on which the claimant alleges that his pension should commence; but no pension-claim shall be finally admitted, nor shall any pension-certificate be issued, until all the conditions prescribed in respect thereof by this Act have been fulfilled. |
| 29. | Pension-claim may be amended. The Pension-claim may be amended from time to time on any point which has not been finally disposed of. |
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respect of the age of the claimant the Stipendiary Magistrate, if otherwise satisfied, may dispense with corroborative evidence.