Youth Supporting Age

Northern Advocate, 29 August 1938, Page 3

Youth Supporting Age

That young peopl ewould be burdened with the support of a growing proportion of older people when the Government’s Social Security Bill bec'ame law was the contention of Mr C. A. Wilkinson, M.P. for Egnaont, when speaking at Maungatapere on Saturday night. “We have one of the finest countries in the world, yet our population is stagnant,” he remarked.. “It is a remarkable fact that more people leave New Zealand to live ih Englanjd, than there tare people leaving England to live here. The natural increase in population is nil. We are faced with the position that, unless we increase either naturally or by immigration, we will perish as a nation. Investigation Urged. “As it is, there is a steadily growing proportion of older people, and, when the Social Security Bill comes into effect, the younger people will have to pay from an early age to keep their grandparents and parents. Many', of the young people will receive no benefits at all. -

“I believe that everything possible should be done to provide for social security such >as old age, sickness, accident, etc.” Mr Wilkinson went on to quote the results of social security experi-.. ments in the United States of America, where, in many cases, the schemes had collapsed through various ' reasons, among them being the influenceof politics. It seemed unfair, he said, that people who' already contributed to a superannuation scheme or other . such “security” fund, should be ar-> bitrarily forced to subscribe to th® . Government’s new proposal. The whole matter w'as one of vital importance to the country and one that should be investigated fully before it - was allowed to become law. ,