CHILD ENDOWMENT SCHEME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19809, 2 December 1927, Page 8

CHILD ENDOWMENT SCHEME

HOW ANOMALIES OCCUR. BANK OFFICIAL'S EVIDENCE. "Child endowment, or family allowance, is a pauperisation of decent parenthood," declared Mr. W. H. Prior, staff officer of the Bank of New South Wales, who gave evidence before the Federal Royal Commission on Child Endowment in Sydney recently. Any genera] dole system, he affirmed, had an adverse effect on the moral tone of the community at largo. It tended to lessen the conscious effort of the individual to meet responsibilities. On the other hand, Mr. Prior admitted that families should be encouraged from a national point of view of the matter, ana children ought to be assured of the necessities of life. He said he thought some limited scheme might be evolved to afford relief to individual cases on their merits. A department could be estab-: lished to deal with such cases and to act ; in conjunction with the Department of' Labour and Industry with a view to employment being substituted for the dole. Banks, Mr. Prior said, strongly objected to the family allowance prescribed in the recent award, which resulted in many anomalies, junior officers with children receiving higher emoluments than fellow officers occupying more onerous and responsible positions. Ho instanced the case of an officer in a branch office whose services had been retained only because be bad-five children, and who, under tho recent award, received £35 for each child, in addition to his salary of £430. This brought his income to £605, as against £430 drawn by the accountant, and £535 by the manager. Mr. E. M. Broad, staff officer of the Commercial Banking Company, pointed ou£ that while his bank, in common with lifer banks, was taxed under the Family Endowment Act—under which none of its employees benefited—it was also required to pay a liberal family allowance to its own staff. "In other words," he explained, "the bank is made to pay twice mt the same employees." The Chairman, Mr. O'Halloran, K.C.: Hut the employees only get it once. Witness: Yes; tho bank officers' salaries •re too high to enable them to benefit wader the Family Endowment Act.