OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LX, Issue 2691, 30 April 1898, Page 4

OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Addresaing his constituents at South' 1 bridge on Monday evening Mr Mont gomery aaid : The principle of old agt 1 penßions was really not greatly disputed the second reading had been carried bj ■ 41 to 11, and the discussion ofj the Bii 1 had been a battle of details and defini ; tions. The differences of opinion thereor - might be summarised under the answen ' to three questions— Who were to receiv. the pension ? How much was it to be,;inc i how was the money to be raised ? Sinc< ■ his last speech in Southbridge he hac " changed his mind on the first question ' and after the discussion in the House : and further study on the subject, he hac come to the conclusion that the univeraa ■ pension was impracticable, and a num ! ber of other members of the House hac come to the same opinion, as the uni versal pension would imply taxatior heavier than the ratepayers of tin colony would be able to bear. The 1 only other alternative was to give r pension to those actually in necessi- ' tous circumstances ; in fact, an ex • tension of the charitable system, and ar ' improvement on it, inasmuch as it woulc 1 not require inquisitorial examinatior into a person's affairs, and did not implj < the degradation usually associated witl ; a charitable dole, but would be recei vec as a matter of right. He thought thai ' the amount of the pension abould b( ' measured by the amount on which i man could live, and should be neithei ! less nor more. They did not want, how ■ ever, to aupport men who could suppori ■ themselves ; but the Bill as it came ou ■ provided that a man who had £95( ! worth of property might get a pension That was too much. He thought tha 1 the annuity value of a person's pro - perty should be taken into account ir ! connection with old age pensions. Thi ! money required should be taken from thc - Consolidated Fund, instead of from in 1 dividual contributions, because the lat ! ter meant an immense expense in col ■ lection ; in fact, they could not be col ■ lected, and also because the workin? 1 classes, who would principally need th< • pension, contributed the larger part o • the Consolidated Fund, the general tax ; ation of the country. The custom; 1 revenue amounted to £1,800,000, anc ■ the land tax to under £300,000. As the. ; knew, the Bill had been thrown out bs ' the Upper House. It would be a verj • easy thing for him to do as others hac ' done in newspapers and on public plat ! forms— abuse the Upper House ; but h< was not going to do so. The Uppei 1 House legislators had thrown the BiL out because they did not think that thc 1 House had sufficient control of thc money expenditure. They thought the 1 money should be voted annually. Thej could not amend the Bill in its monej clausea, aud therefore threw it out. He ' did not altogether disapprove of theii action, because in the words of the French proverb, "It is well sometime* to go back, in order to advance better.' The Bill embodied an advanced demo--1 cratic principle in a very crude form and he believed that a very mucl 1 better measure would be brought for ' ward next session, and tliat thc " Upper House would then pass it. I: the "Legislative Council still refused i he.then wojjj.d be just as ready as p. ■ good many peoplp- now were to tali '■ about the Upper House in severe terms, __W*-_—_M>_— M-.-.11-.111.1, i ,1