The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1899. THE OLD-AGE PENSIONS ACT.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 9, 2 March 1899, Page 17

The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1899. THE OLD-AGE PENSIONS ACT.

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Ilk Old-Aj-u I 'cnsions Art pa^ed last session provides that the stipendiary magistrates shall in open court fully investigate all pension claims for the purpose of ascertaining whether the claimant is entitled to a pens'on, and if so for what amount, and the various magistrates thron»liout the Colony are now busily cn f 'a<>ed on this important work. In the iJiinc-dni district the numlxvof claimants has been considerable, and theo\cr Ahelmum majorilyof the claim, h. lv . i, 0011 U || ou - Cc j Vc have nob calculated the nmub is ivjil up (, 0 ( | atl , but up to about a fortnight, ai;o Mk. Cmslw h ,d U r.mtcd UJ7 pensions of the total Milne of L' 7 I I.J \ht .ainiim, the avera-e amount

of the pension being a trifle over £17. Only 40 claims had been disallowed. Of those who were granted pensions 171 owned England as their birth-place, 1 74 came from Scotland, 78 from Ireland, and 1 1 from other countries, including Wales, France, (Jermany, America. Australia and Tasmania! The exact figures for other districts are not yet available, but we know that applications are coming m on much the same scale all over the Colony, and Hie magistrates haw in many cases actually had to posLpone ordinary court woik in order to overtake the work of disposing- of pension claims. All this at least establishes one Ibin^, ;uid that ;s the real and urgent need there was for something to be done in the direction of an Old Age Pension Schoine. .statistics show that in England 'of e\ cry man bolonuini; to the working and the poorer classes, roughly, one onto!' awry two is compelled under existing conditions, if he hves beyond '{,">, to have recourse to parish relief.' The proportion is, of cour.se, not so great in New Zealand, but the number of pen->ion claims that are pouring in shows that there are hundreds, and even thousands, of hard-working labourers, who have borne their share of the public burdens of the Colony and played their pirt iv opening up its resources, who are now left to drag out the last da\s of their life in a state of semistarvation on a pittance of less than l';>."» a war. This alone establishes a clear case for doing: something, and is itself a sufficient answer to the ' Why-cauVyoii-leaw-ii -alone ?'remonstrance which is so often addressed to politicians who attempt to seriously with this question. It must be remembered, moreoxer. that the threat majority of those whose claims ha\e been allowed are not of those who seek help because they are too idle and spiritless to ti\ and shift for themselves. Of those who have so far been ii ranted pensions not 10 per cent, had claimed and obtained assistance under the Charitable Aid laws. In other words, they preferred to struggle alonu. with the little they had rather than lower their self-respect and natural pride by asking lor help that could onl) be uiven in the form of 'c'hariu.' It is evident, therefore, that the assistance to be gi\en"by the State is in a desirable direction and to .i class that really desen c it.

< i raiitmu- howiwr, thai, il was ;ibsolu!el\ neeessar\ that somethum should he done Lh" question still lenuins, ]s]\li:. M,])ix)\\ seheir.L I he Ik h jio^sible. o'"e\ui a reasonably sitisf.i'-lon wa\ of domu, v Fit'si ol ill, w< would s,i\ that lor Us this (jiiestion ol old-a ,c pui-ion-, is far a bow parly politic-,, <\iul i! < ..n .mil >liould Ik dis< v ,s ( d , utiu h on its nierils wiihouL ew.n a s'.si,,. ion o | pai : ls.niship And in the bccond pl.ici , in (siimtiiiiu tin \.ihi( o| M i;. >i,n, mi\',s proposals it is iiniMiH to b „r m mind lhi piodi'jjons dilhculU , almost .tmoimtinj, I<> th*' iiiipossibiht \ , ol d> \ isiu^ c\cn an .ipproximnh U pinu-' •heme. The ' subject has engaued the attention ol llio < <n\ ci nm< nLs not only ol England and ol ahnosl, ail llnuiish-spi'akmM eo.inl ries^ bill also ol (iirm.uij,, Ucnmaik, Pi nice, I t.'l\ , tLc , \ct hoik ol these have mic< eedi 1 in d<\!-ir,'_: a -■ heme which has not obwous and marked delects. As is mil known, the Commission appointed b\ the iiiilish House of C'oinmoiis examined over one hundred scheme-, but repnited unlavourably on all of them, nor did i hey find themselves able, own with such a mass of material to select from, to frame a satisfactory scheme of their own. A Commission was also appointed by the United States (!o\ eminent to mv <s 1 i^.it o the question, and they reported that the schemes in foiee m (ierm.inyand Denmark had been v erv far from success! ul. Jt ;s safe, therefore, to conclude that the human intelliuence is incapable of de\ismi; a yln me ihaL shall l)e wholly \'y^c from e\en si'rioiis olqectKiUs.

('utainlv it uoilil li- idle Lo ])> cLi ml thai M i;. M.iwion'.s scheme hiis not i's weak spol<. and 1110,1 ol (hem haw been sufficiently elearh and fully pointed oil belon. no,\. For ourselws, we h,i\e onl\ L\\o objections th.it are of any importance to in, ike Lo the scheme. In I In- iiisL pj.ice, \\\> are satislied that m the ide.il pens on s< heme the pens oils will be uuiwi'sal. so thai cm ry one who his resided in the colony for a cert. mi nuinbei of m ,ns and is o\ er si\| \-(i\e years of aue cm ( l.hin \i ,i.of n^hi, without ,m\ ini|iur\ .is to the amount, of uuonie lit. ricn\^ Tr\ (o hide ii, ,is \u may, tliLi'e is under the piesrnl ~-c\n me if not a sii^ma, at least, an unnccesbar\ hiunihation, placed on those who put in

their claim for a pension. It is better than charitable aid, because the pension can be claimed as of right ; but the right can oulybe established by proving in open Court that the applicant g income is loss than a certain amount, and that is a humiliation which docs not attach to the pension of the soldier or civll servant, and which certainly ought not to attach to the pension of the toil-worn colonist. At present, however the country cannot afford to make the pensions universal, and it is infinitely better to put up with the parual pension than to ha\e none at all. Iv the second pnev we fl ro bound to admit that the financial basis ol- the bcheme is somewhat unstable. The Act provides that the pensions shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund, whiih is at present well able to bear the strain ; but even the most careful of Coloni.il Treasurers cannot always guarantee a surplus, and there is a possibility that when the (ark days of deficits come upon us again there may be some < i hculty m hndmg th-j wherewithal to pay the pensions. 1 here may be a difficulty but thediiiiculty would have to be very serious, however, before there would be any thought of retrogression or repudiation. Moreover, the present financial arrangement is only to hold good f or three years, and the \rtluable experience gamed in that time and the information acquired as to the e\act cost of the proposal will no doubt greatly lessen the difficulty of finding a satisfactory and permanent financial basis for the scheme

f i l i ' roiu I these "nperfoctions, we view the initiation of tbe Old Ago Pensions scheme with a feeling of genuine satisf action, ft is not a perfect scheme, but it is a serious and earnest attempt to grapple with a very knotty and a very pressing problem. It is at least a step in the ri«»ht direction, and if received in a friendly and sympathetic spirit it will undoubtedly lead to the development of a more perfect scheme later on. Mr. Seddon deserves both the thanks and the congratulations of the community for Iks great achievement, lie has shown once a«ain his remarkable power of taking a difficult political problem and knocking it into shape in spite of no end of opposition and adverse criticism. One of the best tributes to the value of his scheme js to be found in the hijjh approbation it has recened outside of New Zealand. Leading Knglish statesmen have spoken of it with cordial approval, and an expert appointed by the New South Wales Government, after examining all the Home schemes, has finally reported in favour ol the Xeu Zealand Act. The truth is that for m.im other countries besides New Zealand Mr. Skddox'n M-heme lus ad\, meed the Old A«y Pension* question a most miporuiiL sta»o. 1 5jv hih course and ability he has taken (h< .jiifstion once lor .ill out of the realm' of theon and bioutiliL il into the region of pru-ticil politics and solid fact.