SUPERANNUATION PLAN

Taranaki Daily News, 1 December 1934, Page 6

SUPERANNUATION PLAN

COMPLETE SYSTEM URGED ■ *< REPLACING OLD MEN WITH YOUNG. BEST INVESTMENT FOR POOR. MR. M. J. SAVAGE STATES OPINION By Telegraph—Press Association. Palmerston N., Last Night. During the course of an address tonight, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. M, J. Savage, advocated the establishment of a complete system of superannuation which would be payable on the basis of invalidity or citizenship at the age of 60 years. In support of such a policy he stated that the modern tendency was to destroy the people’s savings or small investments by making it compulsory for thrifty people to use up their savings before becoming eligible for employment. Interest rates had been forced down by Parliament and were likely to continue to fall owing'to the changing economic conditions. Unless some alternative provision of a national character were made the savings of a life-time would, in the majority of cases disappear leaving thousands of thrifty and hard-working people to the mercy of charity. Measured in production, the country was never in a better position than today' to insure its people against poverty. There could be no better investment, especially for the poorer section of the people, than a universal system of superannuation. If the modem civilisation was to be saved and extended the spectacle of comparatively old men doing jobs of third and fourth class importance for a pittance to save them from, starvation had to be brought to an end- and the unemployed youth of the Dominion installed into its natural heritage, namely, the right to play a constructive part in building its own country. The present system, of unemployment relief was humiliating to a workman. It was insufficient to enable him to provide for the immediate needs of his dependents or save anything for the future. It was also uneconomic to the State. The time had come for the reorganisation of industrial forces in such a way as to provide a place for every able-bodied worker.