INSURING A NATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 138, 12 June 1911, Page 5

INSURING A NATION.

LLOYD GEORGE'S GREAT SCHEME. THE FIRST ESSENTIAL. TO CLEAR OUT THE SLUMS. <By Cables-Press Association.—Copyright) (Received 8.5 a.m.) LONDON, June 11. Mr. Lloyd George (Chancellor of the Exchequer), addressing a gathering of 4000 in the Birmingham Town Hall,°met with a great reception. He explained the National Insurance Bill, and said workmen at present pay more than the 4d required for insurance to the pawnbroker. The benefits now offered were only tho beginning, and the rest would accrue without additional charge to the employer, He added: "The first essential is to clear Britain of the foul habitations of great cities. I would treat the man receiving rent or ground rent from an insanitary dwelling as the receiver of stolen property."

Yesterday was a red-letter day in the House of Commons, for it marked the reappearance in Parliament of Mr. Lloyd George after a lengthy absence, enforced partly by general ill-health, but chiefly by vocal troubles, writes our London correspondent on May 5. And he brought with him his long-promised State Insurance scheme. This he unfolded before a crowded House, which, for a couple of hours listened to his speech with a degree of concentrated attention which showed the reality and depth of the interest the scheme excited.

The long reach and wide sweep of the Chancellor's insurance scheme astonished the House. Nothing comparable to it in magnitude has ever been attempted in social reform. Mr. Lloyd George has handled a big subject in a big way, and he gave an admirably lucid exposition of the details. For the most part it was a matter of fact, business-like statement, but Mr. Lloyd George contrived to invest the prosaic details with human interest. Xow and again there were dashes of wit, but the dominant note of the Chancellor's speech was a glowing compassion for the workers—those "dim millions" whose lives are spent in toil for a bare subsistence at the best of tunes, and to whom sickness or unemployment means direst poverty. The reception of his scheme by the House must have pleased the Chancellor greatly. Nothing could have been better than the answer to his eloquent appeal for the co-operation of all parties in a great and beneficial work. This appeal drew from Mr. Austen Chamberlain, speaking for the Opposition, a most friendly speech, in which he welcomed the bill as the foundation of a great scheme of social reform, and promised the help the Unionist party. "We welcome the bill," said he, "and will assure it all the zeal, ability and goodwill we can command." Another LJnionist. Mr. Claude Louther, regarded the bill as a "clever.pound. humane and statesmanlike" measure, calculated to relieve much of the misery all deplored. Mr. Redmond, for the -Irish party, and Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, spoke in warmly sympathetic terms of the bill, and whilst the voice of criticism was by no means unheard, the introduction of this vast measure of social reform met with a chorus of approval which has seldom been heard in the House of Commons.

A generation ago Mr. Lloyd George's speech would have been greeted with contemptuous derision as the vrepourings of a hopeless visionary. But the centre of gravity in British politics has shifted, and under the pressure of a newlyawakened democracy, the eondition-of-the-people question has become a reality to be grappled with in earnest. POINTS OF THE SCHEME. The chief points of Mr. Lloyd George's great scheme which will affect 14,000,000 men and women workers of Britain may 'be briefly summarized thus:— The Chancellor's plan is divided into two portions—(l) sickness and (2) unemployment. The sickness branch has also two parts, one compulsory, one voluntary. There is a compulsory deduction from the wages of employees whose wages are below the limit of taxation ( £ 160). A uniform deduction is proposed of 4d. a week from the wages of men and 3d. from women; while the employer shall pay 3d and the State 2d. In the case of wages under 15s. a week the workers' contribution will be reduced proportionately, and the employer will pay the difference. Everyone up to 65 will be admitted to insurance within twelve months of the Act passing. In the case of a sick worker no deduction will be made if he cannot pay his contribution, and the fact will not be counted against him. A margin up to thirteen weeks will also be allowed for unemployment, and there will be a distress fund to help to •pay arrears (through unemployment) of worknien's contributions. The compulsory class will not include teachers or the Army and Navy, which will be the subject of special provisions. The voluntary scheme applies to persons not working for an employer—as a village blacksmith or a small trader. All under 45 may join—themselves paying the "employers' contribution"—at 7d per man and 6d per woman. Persons over 45 may join at appropriate rates. Mr. Lloyd George anticipates 13,900,000 contributors, compulsory, and voluntary, and also 800,000 under 16 years of age. As to benefits, there will be free medical attendance and maternity benefits, the latter conditional in the case of women workers not returning to work for four weeks. £IvSOOJOOOl v SOOJOOO would he set aside for aiding local schemes for sanatoria for that scourge of the workers—consumption. Insured workers could contribute voluntarily 1/ per year, and to each shilling the State would add 4d for the maintenance of those sanatoria. Sick allowances will he (men) 10/ a week for three months, and then 5/ a week up to the end of six months, and (women) 7/6 and 5/. There will be a permanent disablement allowance of 5/ a week. Younger people under 16 will have no sick pay. but will rret medical attendance and the bentfit of the sanatoria. Distribution of benefits would be chiefly through the great friendly societies and country health committees which are to he established. The unemployment insurance scheme applies for the present only or the trades of building and engineering. Workmen pay 21d a week and employers 2id, and the State makes up one-

Seven shillings a week unemployment pay would be given in the engineering trade, and 6/ in others. It would apply to 2,400,000 workmen.

For sick insurance employers in first year will contribute nine millions and employees 11 millions. In the first full working year the State would pay £4,563,090.

Including both schemes, the total sum •to be raised in the first year is £27,000,000, of which the State will pay £2,500,000.