THE OLD AGE PENSION BILL

Dunstan Times, Issue 1842, 12 November 1897, Page 3

THE OLD AGE PENSION BILL

[From the Stab’s Parliamektaey Reporter.] The Old Age Pension Bill was introduced and read a first time in the House on Thursday. It is a measure of sixtyfour clauses, and provides the necessary machinery for giving effect to an old-age pension scheme. The colony is to be divided into districts, and for each district a registrar and a deputy registrar are to be appointed. The registrar (subject to the control of the Colonel Treasurer) is to have the general administration of the Act. Those entitled to pensions are persons who at any time after the coming into operation of the Act shall attain the age of sixtyfive years and upwards, and who have resided continuously .in the colony for nob less than twenty years immediately preceding such date; also during the four years immediately preceding they must not have been convicted four times or upwards in respect to drunkenness nor have been imprisoned for four months or upwards for offences against property or the person. Their total income from all sources (exclusive of personal earnings and the pension) must not amount to £36 per jear or upwards ; and, finally, they must hold a pension certificate. While a person, is in gaol he is deemed to be absent from the colony. Absence from the colony is regarded as temporary absence unless the total temporary absence exceeds eighteen months. The amount of pension is fixed at £lB per annum, but it is to be diminished at the rate of £1 10a for every complete £3 of income, so thac no pension shall be payable for any year in which the clain.ant’a income is £36 or upwards. For the purpose of fixing the pension for the first year the income of the claimant for the year ending at the date of the pension claim is to be taken. For the purpose of computing income, rent and personal property are to be reckoned as earning at least 4 per cent, on the capital value (after deducting all mortgages or other encumbrances), and in the case of personal property the sum of £IOO is supposed to earn 4 per cent. In the case of'a husband and wife who are living together the yearly income of each is to be added together, and the yearly income of each is to be reckoned as nob less than half of the total personal earnings. Pension payments are not to be reckoned in calculating the income of a claimant. Where for any year after the first a pensioner’s income exceeds £36, the excess is to be included in the computation of his income for the year following. There are a number of clauses providing for the investigation of pension claims by different registrars, from whose decisions an appeal can be made under certain conditions to any stipendiary magistrate in the locality. Provision is also made for pensioners furnishing particulars of their incomes for the payment of pensions, and penalties are provided for wrongfully obtaining or attempting to obtain pension certificates and forfeited instalments and for drunkenness. Payment of pensions is to be met by the Colonial Treasurer paying into the post office account by way of imprest whatever money he deems necessary, and this can be done without further appropriation than the Act. The costs of administration are to be appropriated by Parliament in the usual way. Aboriginal Natives and aliens who have not been naturalised for twenty years prior to establishing their pension claim are pro I eluded from taking advantage of the Act.