PROUD MINISTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 207, 2 September 1936, Page 10

PROUD MINISTER.

MORAL OBLIGATION.

RIGHTS, OF CITIZENSHIP. ADDITIONAL COST £1.700,000. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON", Tuesday. In moving the second reading of the Pensions Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives to-niglit, the Minister of Pensions, Mr. Parry, eaid the measure, which he was proud to have the responsibility of bringing bafore the House, embraced social legislation which had to do with the sacred and moral obligation they owed to the aged and decrepit of the community. It was associated with a principle to which lie had held strongly in the past. All social legislation, more especially pensions legislation, was a recognition by the community of its responsibility towards those who had grown old in the service of their .country and who were unable to make &ny further contribution to the work of• the nation.

The bill, tlie Minister proceeded, was an undeniable recognition by the community of the work" of the aged, who had made possible the development of the country. In the human family the member who was unable to work through illness or disability received the very best that was possible from the other members of the family, and the same should apply in the. affairs of the nation. The invalidity provisions of the bill embodied that principle. Warm Tribute to R. J. Seddon. The Minister proceeded to pay a tribute to the late Mr. R. J. Seddon for his pioneering work in the field of pensions. It was impossible to express in words the deep appreciation which all should feel towards the late Mr. Seddon and his associates. The spirit of Seddon to-day permeated the hearts of all citizens of New Zealand, but Seddon had difficulties to encounter, and his' legislation had' been hedged about with, restrictions/ The anomalies in the pensions system seemed to place the hallmark of poverty on the recipients of pensions. It was a fact that the applicants had to prove they were down and put before they were entitled to a pension, although they were eligible for it by the rights of citizenship. That condition had to be removed from the pension system. The present bill made a big step in the direction of removing that objectionable feature of poverty as a claim to a pension and it gave a greater recognition of the principle of the rights of citizenship. The Minister admitted that the bill did not go all the way or as far as the Government would like it to go, but it went almost as far as it was possible to proceed under a pension system. The only way to achieve the full aim of pensions benefits was through a national superannuation system. By such a system all the people on reaching the . ; age defined by the scheme, or people who were maimed or crippled in the service of their country, or were born into the world invalids, would be entitled to their superannuation as a- right of citizenship, andV;would not have to prove that they wer6 in poverty before they were eligible to receive the pension. The Government now 1 , had that work iii hand. On a Contributory Basis. Mr. .Coates (National} Kaipara )*: That ,will* be on a contributory basis ? The Minister: Yes. V Mr. Parry went on to say that when the bill became law New Zealand would once again lead the world so far as pension law was concerned. Referring to the provision which gives a pension to deserted wives, the Minister said that it was not intended to make the position of the deserter "'-any easier. The Government would take active measures to run the wife-deserter to earth. There was no person he had a greater contempt for than the man who was responsible for bringing children into the world and then left them? Such a man ought to be in the jungle. i; Replying to an interjection, the Minister said it was not proposed to pay pensions to a deserted wife if she did not have children dependent on her unless, of course, she was incapacitated.

The Minister concluded with the statement that the provisions of the bill would add £1,700,000 to the Civil Pensions Bill.