OLD-AGE PENSIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15823, 23 July 1913, Page 6

OLD-AGE PENSIONS

NEW PROPOSALS. RECIPROCITY WITH AUSTRALIA. iFjioit Oun Own Correspondent.) . WELLINGTON, July 22. A Bill consolidating the existing pensioiis laws and embodying v?ry im]iortiint modifications in principle was introduced in the House this afternoon. The Hon. F. M. B. Fisher said that' the Bill provided for- the pensions for women beginning at the age of '60. The scale wouid' be &21 per year at 60, £22 at 61, ±126 at 62, 1/24 at 64, £25 at 64, and the full pension of ±126 at 65. Hon. members, he said, on both sides of tho House would be glad to notice that this Bill was the first step in connection with the Government's pension scheme towards removing altogether the disqualification of income and property. Iho holder of the military pension in future would receive £46 per year, regardless of his having pfoperty or not. Tlie pension scheme already in operation, lie continued, had unfortunately been built upon a wrong basis, and it would cost an enormous amount of money to revise the system and put-it upon a- true basis. He hoped that ultimately that would be done. A step in that direction was the removal of the impost- that was put upon the old-age pensioner at orcsent by taxing him to tho value of his little cottage or home. Provision was also made in the Bill for allowing a man if he had resided at any time or'4o years in the country to get the pension provided he had''lived in tnc dominion for 12 months previous to.tho dato of his application. A further important concession in tho Bill was that they had cut out the scheme of calculating the amount money a miner received from tho miners' relief fund when he was indigent or sick, and counting it in as income, and so depriving him of the pension. . In a brief discussion which ensued very hearty approval was expressed with the provisions of the Bill. A further Bill was introduced under the title " An Act to ratify an agreement, between the Commonwealth and New Zealand, providing for reciprocity in the matter of old age pensions." Tne Hon. Mr i) isher said that the object of the Bill was to make provision for persons who had , resided in Australasia for such a. length of time as would entitle them to a pension cither in Australia or New Zealand. Applicants. must reside in the country in which they claimed the pension for at least 12 months before making application. The cost of defraying the pensions was to be bonie by the Commonwealth aJid New Zealand, the liability of tho respective countries to be based upon the estimated population of each countrv at the end of each year. Mr Uavey asked if any account was taken as to the period spent by the applicant in either country. Mr Fisher: No, that was not taken into account. The position was that for every pension granted New Zealand would pay one-seventh of the cost, irrespective of the length of residence It was ailso provided that .at the end of five years tile agreement might be revised, because the cost would be such an unknown quantity that an opportunity should be afforded for revision or adjustment of the financial liability. Ihe pensioner would be paid rates prevailing in the State in which he resided. In rcsnonse to an application from Mr Seddon. Mr Fisher said that a similar Bill would be introduced in the Federal Parliament. The Act in New Zealand would not come into operation till it was gazetted, and it would not be. gazetted till the Australian Act was passed.