BRITISH POLITICS.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13009, 10 January 1908, Page 7

BRITISH POLITICS.

LABOUR AND OLD AGE TENSIONS.

Tnit«d Fre«s Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. I/ONDON. January 8. Mr J. D. Shackleton. owing to pressure of other duties, declines re-elec-tion to the Chairmanship of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Mr Shackleton, addressing _his constituents, advocated raising £17,C>00,000 yearly, from all those whose incomes were* over £5000, towards the support of an old ago pensions scheme of 5s per week. Ho declared that those at the top could well stan4 a little bit being taken ofF without running short.

The above is the favourite -method of Labour members at Home of raising tho money for old age pensions. Ihe secretary "of thr« liulopendeat Labour Party thinks that £22,000.000 will suffice to give a pension of 5s a week, and that there- ought to be no difficulty in raising .that sum. •Inerea.sed death duties ar.«l an iincreased tax pro rat a on incomes over £10,0(X) would soon procure that amount."' Some members of Parliament put tlio exemption as low as £1000. Speaking at n dinner given iii his honour by tho I'niouist Free-Trade Club, Lord Cromer made tsomo interesting remarks, on tho subject of old ago pensions. Tariff Reformers said that tho money could bo raided by a largo increase of indirect taxation. He doubted whether tho money could l>o so raised without killing tho trade. To him tho policy of thoao Free Traders who supporte<l a non-contributory old age pension whenie. w«s ineoimprehenbible. Had these Free Traders ever asked themselves where tlio money was to come from? If go, im answer had, so far a.s he was aware, yet been vouchsafed to them. They were excluded from raising the money by indirect taxation, ami economies to anything liko the extent required could not be effected without impairing our naval and military strength to a dangerous degree. There remained, therefore, only a. resort to direct taxation, and any ono who imagined that some 20 or 30 additional ■millions could bo raised I>y direct taxation, must, to say tho least, be of very sanguine temperament. Ho couJd not, hcl'p thinking that hotiio scheme, based mainly on individual effort, with perhaps, a moderate amount of Stato aid, was capable of being devised. As Freo Traders they had to oppose. Tariff Reformers, .and were forced also to look askance at the Free Traders ,n the opposite, camp until it was known that they were purged of being the advocates of a policy :u* regarded old age ponfiions which was oither impraoticablo, or which must ultimately load to the same g<*al as that which Tariff Reformers sought to obtain.