FEDERAL PENSIONS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 21, 4 June 1908, Page 7

FEDERAL PENSIONS.

TEN'SHILLINGS A WEEK. AGE LIMIT OF SIXTY-FIVE. INVALIDS AND INCAPABLJIS TO BE INCLUDED. Br TELEGRAPH —ritEEO .'.ESOCMTICN —COPTHTGni Melbourne, June 3. At an early hour this morning, tho Old Ago Pensions Bill was presented to the Federal House. • It provides that every person who has attained the age of 65 years, and those who, being incapacitated from work, have attained the ago of GO, and women'of GO shall ,-c----ceive a pension. Provision is also made for pensions for invalids to come into operation by subsequent proclamation, under which every person above tho ago of 16 years, who is permanently incapacitated, shall receive a pension. The amount of the pension is fixed at £26 per annum. It is understood that tho annual cost of tho scheme will be £1,800,000. ESTIMATE OF COST. (Rec. Juno 4, 0.58 a.m.) Melbourne, Juno 3. Mr. L. E. Groom, Attorney-General, in moving tho second reading of the Old Age Pensions Bill, estimated that it would cost £1,600,000 per annum. FINANCIAL ASPECT. COMMONWEALTH AND THE STATES' REVENUES. ' Melbourno, June 3. In tho House of Representatives, tho second reading' of the Surplus Revenue Bill was carried. ' THE DEAKIN-LABOUR COMPACT.' "NEW PROTECTION" AND PENSIONS. A Melbourne oablogramof May 28 intimated that a caucus of the Labour party had agreed to pass the Surplus Revenue Bill (giving the Federal Government power to appropriate and ■ retain certain unexpended balances, which now go automatically to the States) on condition that an Old Age Pensions Bill was brought in by the Federal Government. It was also hinted that the Labour party would' noti oppose Mr. I)oakin's naval defence vote. In effect, tho idea was conveyed that tho Labour party would permit tho passage of moasnres giving tho Doakin Government increased financial powers as regards the unexpended balances, and initiating the naval defence schonio, in return for —old ago pensions. The above cablegrams ar'o consistent with this construction.

Tho " Sydney Daily Teloeraph," writing prior to the announcement'of this new covenant between Mr. Dfnkin and the Labour ; party, declared that the old compact had broken down as far : as' Labour's reward was concerned. The paper points out that the Labour caucus permitted the tariff to pas,? on condition that the Government also passed the "now protection," under which "ho manufacturer was to be allowed to pocket the now duties, which were to be, distributed among the workers in the shapo of extra wages, without the public being called upon to pay any additional prices for 'goods. But tho public are paying extra'prices, and the workers are not getting higher wages"—and apparently will not Until tho High Court Ms settled the question of the locality of the "new protection" under the Constitution. Did' Mr. Deakin know beforehand—the "Telegraph" asks—that tho "new 1 protection" would be thus challenged? "Wo will assumo that the Government was quite' innocent of any intention to mislead, and only found out that it, had' palmed off doubtful coin upon Labour after tho transaction was complete. But it has got tho consideration all tho same, and the question ,to which common fairness now requires an answer is: What docs Mr. Deakin intend to do about it?" Is tho Old Ago Pensions Bill a sufficient answer to the "Telegraph's" query? Elaborating its point, the paper goes on to ;say: "That tribunal (the High Court) may decide that the' 'new protection' is sanctioned by the Constitution, or. that it is not, and tho Government's present excuse for shirking a matter that' its protectionist supporters will never allow it, to touch is that it can do nothing until tho Court has given its decision." But tho Labour partv cannot livo on the virtue of patienco, and tho "Telegraph" predicts trouble if tho Government goes into rccess "leaving tho caucus nothing to show for its work but a dubious promissory note."