THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY. JANUARY 24, 1899.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10968, 24 January 1899, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY. JANUARY 24, 1899.

w The Stipendiary Magistrates all over the colony have had sittings to investigate claims under the Old Ago Pensions Act, and judging by the- slow progress made, it will bo some considerable timo before all the applicants can get their cases before the judge. It is prematura yet to make assured generalisations from tho proceedings, but apparently the are much in line with those who have hitherto been relieved by the Charitable Aid Board. We fear, however, that the system adopted of settling claims will be responsible for thwart- ; ing the original and the best intention of the Act, namely, the giving of relief tc those who have been unfortunato, but who have still self-respect, and even what may be termed pride, and who fli'o connected by ties of friendship or of kinship with a. large circle of people who are in fairly good position. It may be said that in such . cases the persons ought to be maintained by their relatives. But the idea of the Act was that the individuals brought under it should be relieved from dependence on relatives. A • person claiming a pension has first to get an application form from a public officer, and ho hns'to furnish infortaa- [ tion which may be troublesome to obtain. The mere task of searching for the necessary particulars may involve what the applicant may consider a , degradation, and may cause him to abandon a claim which is just in law. The next step is, that the applicant must come before the Stipendiary j Magistrate, in the Court where he would have to appear if he were ' oharged with theft oi any other dis- • graceful crime, produce his proof, and , submit to bo cross-questioned, as if "■ he were attempting to <*ipose on the community. He has in reality to undergo a more painful ordeal than if j.. he wore to apply for charitable nid. a ' This ordeal of nublicity was, how- . evei, contemplated by the framers of the Act. The subject wag discussed'

I in Parliament, and the method of pro-1 cedure in the Police Court and by ' publication of the names was deliberately chosen. It was supposed to be the onlv check against fraud. What difference is there in the majority of cases published and those relieved by the Charitable Aid Board ? The applicants who have received pensions must nil have been admitted by the j Board as entitled to aid. In these I circumstances public opinion will infallibly class them together. The re-1 cipients of pensions will be considered j as receiving charitable aid, while. those who are assisted bv the Board | will be looked on as pensioners of the, State. The effect will be to confuse, the whole system. The need for making provision while health and j strength exist as far as possible, will | vanish from the minds of the mass of i the people. There will be as much | or as little shame in accepting charitable aid as in accepting a pension; I self-respect will vanish, sobriety, frugality and othei virtues will bo counted out. It is quite evident that if any large proportion of persons, the proper recipients of the pension, are prevented from applying, and only those obtain it who care nothing for the odium that attaches to dependence on public money, then the Act has failed, and will have to be amended. A ease which may not be peculiar came before the magistrate at Auck- , land at one of the hearings. The wife j of an employee of the City Council, ] earning a, rate of pay which many i men of his age would be glad to receive, put forward a claim on the ground that she had no property apart from her husband. The law as regards husband and wife is, that " the yearly income of each shall be deemed to bo not less than half the total yearly incomo of both." A man is not entitled to a pension if his yearly income amounts to .£52, so that any man having, say, a salary of £70 or .£BO, is entitled to present his wife for a pension. We are afraid that in this category also, many who ought to receive the pension will not apply for it. So far as the investigations of claims have proceeded, they have I shown that there is no clear and obI vious distinction between the old age pension and charitable aid, that neither in the minds of recipients nor of j the general public will there be any. distinction. If the Act is simply to' bo an extension of charitable aid then | it would have been better to have j I made- it so. The persons meant to bo ■ ! benefited will not be reached, and our; I experiment will havo to be pronounced ; a failure. The true remedy for this. would havo been to have completely ■ separated the two. This could have : been done bv the institution of a sys- j I tern to which every person during j youth and manhood would have con- j I tributcd. This could have been ar- 1 j ranged bv co-operating with the! ! friendly societies, and by making | I special arrangements with life insurance companies. And then every per-1 son at the age of 65 would have been j entitled to a pension. The accumu-1 laterl subscriptions might have been j considerably aided by the State as re-1 presenting the interest if the Govern- j ment in the system. But there would then have been no odium attachable I to the payment any more than there I is at nrescnt in a working man receiving sick pay from a benefit society. j And the work of the system would have nrompted thrift, and all tho social virtues which are connected with it, whilst by the present svstem these are all discouraged. No doubt, in many cases the pension would not have been drawn, as many men would havo attained a position in which the small payment from the State was not worth looking after. These moneys would have gone to strengthen the fund, and thus save tho Treasury. And in that case there would have been no need as at present of taking oath in a public court as to income. The ascertainment of a claim would have been an easy matter, as the records of payment would have been proof of age and of everything else,