THE BILL AMENDED. SOME INTERESTING OPINIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2211, 16 July 1896, Page 20

THE BILL AMENDED. SOME INTERESTING OPINIONS.

Wellington, July 8,

It appears that in consequence of a departmental mistake it was tha -draft bill in re old x%a pensions that was laid ou the table of the House yesterday. The mistake was rectified this afternoon. There are one or two important alterations, onebeiag in regard to the amount of and the conditions on which pensions are payable, and the other in regard to the mods of raising money for the soheme. The provisions in regard to the receipt of pensions now reals as followB :— " Sabjeob to the provisions of this aot every person who at any time after the coming into operation of this act attains tha full age of 65 years or upwards shill be entitled to a pension of 10a per week for the rest of his life, provided in addition to the conditions already published that his total income from all sources (exclusive o£ his -personal ' earning* and ' his pension) doss nob exceed the rate of £50 per year." The clauses for the provision of moneys for the pension scheme now read as follows :— " The moneys required for the payment of pensions shall be raised in suoh one or more of the following modes as Parliament tbinlcs fit to determine : (1) A primage duty on imports not exceeding 1 per cent, ad valorem ; (2) an increase of the excise duties ; (3) a graduated income tax ; (4) ad increase of the graduated land tax ; (5) an increase of the death duties by graduation ; (6) un increase of the stamp duties by graduation or otherwise ; (7) a tax on mortgages; (8) a tickst tax on entertainments ; (9) the totalis&tor tax ; (10) such other forms of tax&tion as Parliament thinks fib to impose." Tha bill is likely fco meet wifth a good deal of opposition in the H>iu», a f i'l som; fcren?lnat criticism will bi unite vn iti pr.v'sbns. I had a brief interview with Mr Barubhaw on the subject; this afternoon. Mr Earnshaw has made a special study of the question of old age pensions, and for this reascn, and also because he is a representative of the worker?, hisopinion will no doubt cirry some weight. Mr Earnshaw stated that he had only hurriedly perused the bill, but from a casual glance at it it was evident to him that the Government had 50 grasp of the/Droblem, ffor instance, there

was no enoouragement for thrift in the bill. The whole principle of thrift and self-relwnce waji eliminated from the measure, and while tbo Government demanded that there was to be ft permanent tax upon the working daisies to secure a pension in old age, every person of~ an unthrifty oharaoter would be sure of a pensiotf and benefit therefrom, while a man who had endeavoured to secure himaelf in a comfortable position in hie old age ran the ohance of being debarred from securing that for whioh he had been compalsorily taxed throughout his life.' In Mr Earnshaw's opinion there can bo no doaftj that as the workers of New Zealand realise the iniquitous proposals of the measure it would go homo to them in a praotioal manner that tbe present occupants of the Treasury beaches had not studied the problems of labour «nd the sources best calculated to give permanent relief. • ' This bill," he concluded, M praqtlcallj gives a premium to the indigent and thriftiest amongst onr workers." The question of old age pensions is alio dea.lt with by tha Registrar of Friendly Societies in his report, whioh was laid on the table to-nlghfc He quotes the following summary of the report of the English Rjyal Commission on the Aged Poor : — " We have c wef ally examined the various schemes for State assistance to the aged whioh have been submitted to us, and, bearing in mind the great labour and thought expended on them, and the high public spirit and deep sympathy with suffering whioh inspired their authors, wo regret that, in view of the financial and economio difficulties involved, we have been unable to recommend tho adoption of any of tha schemes as yet suggested, ' whether for endowment or for assisted insurance." The Registrar goes on to state that the commissioners refer to the unpopularity of deferred annuities, and asks : •' M*y not euoti unpopularity be due to tbe faob thifc the income of V large percentage of wage-earners in England is insufficient to onab'e them to make this provision — that there are move pressing cliims, and that the money whioh they would otherwise gladly devote to this form of insurance is better used when spent on the immediate needs of themselves and of those dependent on them P I1 it the daty of "parents to etinb themsslves and their children in those things which- are necessary for a' healthy life in order th»t they may lay by for old age ? Would this be economy from a national point of view ? It ' is ergund that in failing to reoogaise provision for old age as urgent workers praotioally rest content with wages during their working years "whioh are . iosuffijient tj supply the wants of the whole life. Surely thii is an admission thab florae ,. workers are unable to purchase an old ago pension out of their present wages. Should Euch then be condemned for failing to do that which is impossible. If those who can provide for old age neglect to do so, they mutt take the consequeuces. This introduces the question of tho neneß<ity of disci i nination, so that the industrious and tbrifty it unable la pnvide fo? their old . age m»y nob ba clawed with the idler, the wastrel, end the criminal. The argument thab in ,the relief of destitution tha burden 'on thoso' who with difficulty manage to support themselves should be made as light as p-s«ble is answered by laying that th?s. is a question not merely of the amount, bub of tho incidence of taxation, and tho harsh treatment of the deserving poor is rrofc a right niodo of relieving the twpajer. If earnings are sufficient a person m*y ba exneotod to make provision for old age, bulr thera wjll ever be some who, though they hare gone under in the struggle of life, deserve, especially when no longer able to work, more liberal treatment than the offer .of the miuimmn relief affordfjd-to destitution nf such wtthont reforenca to its cause. White there is ample scope for the friendly society, which includes a deferred annuity &m?n£ its benefit?, its compulsory inclusion will shut out from suoh accieby those who are unable to p»y for this lurthur benefit).