The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1908. WORKERS' PENSIONS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12145, 2 September 1908, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1908. WORKERS' PENSIONS.

Mil Lloyd-George has evidently beeri' greatly impressed by the perfection ,o£ the Gorman pension system, and the experience he has gained during his' visit to the Fatherland should enable him to give an effective answer/to those' members, of the British Labour Party': in the House of Commons who hold that the British working classes could notafford to contribute to a pension scheme.' A,s a matter of fact old age pensions are the least important part of Germany's Workmen's Insurance Legislation. As a German writer points out, there are three great compulsory; Insurance Acts:—The Sickness Insurance Act with 11,000,000 of insured persons, the Accidents Insurance Act ,with 20,-: 000,000, and the Incapacities Irisuraiiee Act with 14,000,000: Under the Sickness Act the. workman contributes two-thirds, the employer one-third. Under the Accidents Act the workman contributes nothing, the employer tho whole. Under the Incapacities Act the workman onehalf, the employer one-half. The Incapacities Insurance "Act dates from Juno 22nd, 1889; it came into force on 'January list,. 1891. Its former name was tho Incapacities and Old Age Insurance Act. "OH Age" has been dropped from the official title of the Act, but, of course, not from the scope of its working, since the Act was amended and extended in 1900. This Act is, intended to meet the needs of the workers, both/male and female, who do not come within the soope of the two other Acts It insures tho worker against permanent incapacity from all constitutional diseases such as tuberculosis, lead poisoning, general and permanent decline of his powers, etc. A pension under this title is given to every insured work, irrespective of his age, after having contributed for 200 weeks, if he is no longer able to earn a third of that income which capable workers of his own profession are generally and usually earning in that part >f the country where he or she has been living and working. Besides this group of permanent pensions, incapacity pension is payable to those persons insured under tho Act who have been incapacitated by sickness—not permanent—for a longer period than half a year (26 weeks). In this case the pension is given after the. twenty-sixth week for such a period as tho incapacity may last, while the first twenty-six weeks are covered by the Sickness Insurance Act. Thirdly, under this Act a pension is given to all persons insured after having attained the seventieth year of age, irrespective of their working capacity or their income from any other sources. So in the case of old age there is no inquisition and no '"'sliding scale" in the sense of tho British Bill. If he o\\ she has become a septuagenarian he or she gets Old Age Pension without

any further question. The worker has a right to get it on account of his con- < tributions. The Act covers every work- l ing person from the sixteeenth year of E his age if his yearly earnings do not < exceed 2,000 marks (£100). It includes < skilled and unskilled labour of every description, even casual labourers, ser- • vantsj messengers, charwomen. If a man or woman is employed by several \ persons during a day the first employer is responsible for him or her with re- ■< gard to contributions. The employer pays the whole of the contributions to the authorities by stamps; half of it he deducts from the worker;s weekly wages. In any case he is responsible for the contributions. Contributions and pensions are divided into five wages' classes. Employer and workman equally pay in Class I. 7 pfennig, Class 11. 10 pfennig, Class 111. 12 pfennig, Clas3 IV. 1.5 pfennig, Class V. 18 pfennig per week (8 pfennig one penny). The pensions are as follows per year:— INCAPACITY PENSIONS. Wages Class. Minimum. Maximum. I. ...... 16s .... 185s II 126s .... 270s 111 134s 390s IV 142s .... 390g V. ...... 150s .... 450s ■"'■ OLD AGE PENSIONS. " I. 110s .... — II 1408 .... — 111. 170a .... _ IV 200s .... — V. _...... 230s .... — If a worker lias got an incapacity pension, which is higher than the old pension, before he is 70, he retains the higher pension. From this reason the number of old age pensioners is declining from year to year. The decrease of the number of old age pensions is due to the fact just mentioned; the decrease of the number of incapacity pensions since 1905 is due to the fact that the Stata insurance authorities now take care of the would-be pensioner in time, send him to a sanatorium before he gets an incurable, give him the best medical help. By so doing they render a great servics to him as well an to the funds. The achievements in this line are really wonderful. During tho year 1906, the administration of the incapacities insurance funds in the Rhenish Provinces have taken in hand 6,590. cases of this description, and most of them were treated in their own sanatoria at a cost of about £76,000, £17,000 being paid to the family of the insured workman, during his absence from home. They make the invalid a healthy man if there is the slightest chance. ' The total expenditure on incapacities and old age pensions during tho first twelve years ofthe the working of the Act for the whole of Germany was 720,000,000 marks—£36,ooo,ooo; the number of pensions during the same period was 900,044 incapacity and 402,856 old age cases. In every pension is included a 6um of 50 marks (£2 10s) per year from imperial- funds, bo that a considerable part of every pension is provided by the general taxpayer. The contribution fronitliissource during the /first twelve ; year3a^un^d[to^l26lo^,ooo^7 The proportion of women pensioners to men pensioners is as two to five:. If a worker is unemployed he does not lose- his claim to a pension unless he has during 104 successive weeks paid less thaii 20 weekly contributions. So if he is uni employed 'continuously during a whole ; year he can save his claim by paying for ten weeks out of fifty-two. It 'baiinot precisely be proved that old aga *feensionj3 alone have favourably influenc-sr-.ee! - the expenditure under the Poori law, -but there is not the least doubt ■^possijble that an expenditure of £200,----.000,000 during thirteen years, or as at present of 1,250,000 marks per day underj the three Acts together means a considerable lowering of the expendiI under the Poor-law. This cannot be "shown in £ c. d., because they have {.no,; special poor-rate in Germany, all j.tho expenses for the poor being paid yfrom the general income of our municipalities. The system of working the " Ihpapacity Insurance Act is not so very . cpmplicated, and it works now smooth--lyoJenough. The work of constituting ci^es is primarily part of the municipal administration. They do what investigation is necessary, which in cases of rold age pensions is naturally very limit-ed.-The only question to solve is whether the claimant is really 70 years of age, and what is the amount of his contributions. In cases of incapacity it is mainly a case for the doctor. Then there is the provincial insurance admin' Istration, with an executive committee consisting of three officials, two employers, and two workmen. Against their decision there is the Court of Arbitration, consisting of employers and workmen in equal numbers, with an impartial chairman^ generally a Gov-

ernment official, and no lawyers admitted. In. the last instance there .is the Imperial Insurance Board.in Berlin, similarly constituted." Generally speaking, gays the writer from whom we have gleaned the above facts, the social insurance legislation of Germany lias become a national asset, which no party and no class would really lose