SUMMARY.

Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13049, 8 March 1911, Page 5 (Supplement)

SUMMARY.

NATIONAL PROVIDENCE.

'From "The Colonist." Feb..24.) Tun National Provident Fund Act of last season jvill come into force on March Ist, on and after which date contributions will be, receivable at any postal money order office. The launching of this scheme deserves more than passing notice, in order that the benefits to be derived by those qualified to join the fund may be made as widely known as possible. The Superintendent of the. fund has just issued a booklet containing all the information which intending contributors will require. It is claimed for tho scheme that it offers facilities for voluntary thrift on a basis of mutual contributions by the State and the individual exceeding the provisions of any other known State system in the liberality of its benefits and tho low contribution ratd. Perusal of the booklet shows that the claim has ample justification. The benefits payable to contributors in the cases of childbirth, incapacity, and by way of pensions, and the allowances to widows and children of contributors, have previously been fully stated in those columns, but the working of the scheme is succinctly explained in tho following . illustration :— A young man 22 years of age pays a chilling a week for a pension at the lowest scale, viz., 10s per week at tli-.' ago of 60. .If lie marries, then for c\ery birth happening after lie has been contributing for twelve months, he is entitled to a payment not exceeding £6. From age 27, or five, years after entering the scheme, he would be entitled, should he become incapacitated for moro than three months, to a.v allowance (provided he suffers pecuniaiy loss to that extent) of 7s 6d per week for each child under 14 years of age during the subsequent period of his invalidity—that is, supposing he had four children, he would receive £1 10s per week. In the event of his death his widow will receive 7s Gd per weok so long as each child is under 14 yeurs of ag?, and a similar sum for each child up to 14 years of age; total to his widow and children of £1 17s Gd per week. Then again, if at age 27 he finds himself in a position to do s;o he may ineivasci his pension to 20s, 30s, or 40 s per week by commencing to pay the increased contribution for that age. If he be a contributor .who has started an the higher pens-ion scale lie may lrvlnce it to a lower scale, but still retain the full rights to tlie other three benefits, viz., the maternity and incapacity allowances, and the payments to widow and children at death ; and, further, he can receive back any excess contributions he may have paid at the higher rate. Let us suppose, ho\v;>\er, that this contributor reaches the age of 32 without having married, and desires to withdraw, he would then be entitled, after giving twelve months notice, to receive back the whole of his weekly shilling contributions, which by that time have amounted to £2G. The fund liar, therefore acted as a savings ba.uk for him, and he lias received ten ycais' free insurance. On reaching the pension agn the contributor referred to wou-tl have the option of drawing a lump Bum of £03 I<>< or a weekly allowance of 10s for the rest of his life;. In every contingency the contributions me returnnbl'.'. If a contributor dies before tho first five years are completed his representatives .receive the, contributions lie has paid less, of course, anything he re-

reived during Jifetime by way of maternity benefit. Should he way of maternity benefit, Should he die after agq 60 before receiving in pension a sum equal to the contributions paid in dining his lifetime tl.e difference is returnable to his representatives ; and, further, if the. allowances paid for widow and children do not exhaust the contributions, his representatives are entitled to the residue. In short, ii' a contributor throughout life unlives no benefits he leaves no contributions in the fund, and is not asked to pay for a risk that .has not materialised. A female contributor is entitled to the full benefits in respect of the pension, tho incapacity allowance, and (if her husband b-j not also a contributor) to the .maternity expenses. At death any surplus contributions are returnable to her representatives. A more liberal scheme could hardly be devised, and the National Provident Fund offers inducements to those in receipt of small incomes which should only be widely known to b« widely availed of.