North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1896. OLD AGE PENSIONS.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8731, 19 November 1896, Page 2

North Otago Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1896. OLD AGE PENSIONS.

lln the dying days of last session of Parliament a Bill by the peculiar name of the Registration of Peoples Claims Bill was passed through the House, The object of the Bill is, shorn of all verbiage, merely to obtain a return of all those who, under certain conditions, are entitled to a pension from the State. The following aye the conditions : The person applying must be 65 years of age or over ; must have resided for not less than 20 years m the colony, and for at least three years immediately preceding the coming into operation of the Act ; that he has not been absent from the colony for eighteen months during the period of ten years immediately preceding such date ; and that his total income from all sources does not exceed LSO per annum. These, briefly, are the conditions on which a pension under the Old Age Pen sions Act, if it comes into force, can be obtained. Then every person, male or female, who is entitled to o pension, must deliver his or her claim to a registrar on or before the Ist day of March, 1897. All this appears to be easy enough of accomplishment ; but the question that gave most concern to the Premier and the members of the House was that wliich provided for the source from whence the required pension fund was to come. Tho Ministry have as much as they can do at the present time to provide for the necessities of the State without making provision for old age pensions ; and while there are large numbers who believe that a measure of this kind should be a concomitant of our higher civilisation, the stringency of fcho colony's finances stands m the way of its passage through tho House. A return was ordered by Parliament to be prepared by the Registrar - General showing the number of all persons m the colony of the age of 65 years and upwards. The Registrar has been unable to supply the return from tho last census, inasmuch as the figures aro not complete ; but he has tabled the figures of the previous census of 1891. These show that there are 14,342 persons of the age of 65 and upwards m the colony— B336 males and 6006 females. The Registrar estimates that the number of persons aged 65 and upwards m the colony at the present time will be between 17,000 and 20,000. If wo Jake 18,000 as the exact figure, ifc would require L 468,000 a year to provide each with a pension of 10s a week, bufc as ib is not likely that these 18,000 people have been residents of tho colony for the last twenty years ifc is needless dwelling on the probable cost. The information, we presume, will be obtained by March Ist next. Ifc is, however, evident that the taxpayer will have to provide a considerable sum. The principal clause reads: "That his total income from all sources (exclusive of his personal earnings) does not exceed the rate of fifty pounds per year." An applicant will be entitled to a pension if his private income, apart from hia yearly earnings, reaches L 49 19s ll|d. Objection will be taken to this clause on the ground thafc ifc offers a premium to improvidence. The man who has saved nothing and made no provision for his old age is provided for, while the man who has saved and invested his savings is left oufc m the cold. This was one of the rocks on which the Bill landed when ifc was before the House, Ifc is quite possible for a person to be industrious and frugal ,and still unfortunate, bufc there is no disputing the fact thafc the tendency of the Bill is to offer a premium to extravagance m living. But m the meantime ifc does not matter, for there is no possibility of the Bill passing for years. The money cannot be found for it. Already taxation is too burdensome. The Bill has been introduced as an election catch, and no one knows better than the Premier that it cannot become law.