OLD AGE PENSIONS

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 871, 18 July 1910, Page 8

OLD AGE PENSIONS

AN INTERESTING RETURN. Tho annual report of the Old Age Pensions branch states that the amalgamation of the Old Age Pensions Office with the Poet and Telegraph Department took pla6e on May.l, 1909. Of the fourteen officers then occupied in the Old Age Pensions Office it was found that the services of seven were no longer needed. Savings wero also effected in the working of the district offices. The total saving amounts to ,£5744. per annum. The total cost of the additional pensions under the amending Act of last session is estimated .at .£15,000 per annum. . i. Pensions in Force. Tho number of pensioners continues to increase, there being on the roll on March 31 a total of 15,320, including 694. members of the Native race. ' The increase on the figures of the previous year is 924. There is a further increase in. the percentage of pensioners to the population eligible by age and residence, which now stands a,t KG per cent. In 1901 this percentage was 42 per cent; in 1906 it had dropped to 31 per cent., since which year it lias been gradually rising. The percentage of pensioners to the population eligible by ago only is 32 per eent. Last year it was 30 per cent. Of the total number of pensioners, 11,827 are in receipt of the full pension of .£26. This represents 77. per cent, of the whole, as ngainst 78 per cent, in the previous year. Of the 7487 pensioners admitted in tho first three months of tho Act eleven years ago, 1912 are still on the roll. The European pensioners of the age of ninety and over number 105. Eight are of the age of ninety-five and ovor, and ones'is over one hundred. The number of claims lodged during the year totalled 2892, an increase of 58 on the figures 6E the previoue year. These, with the 885 awaiting investigation at the seventy-three agencies of the office on March. 31, 1909, made a total of 3757 dealt with. These are accounted for',as follows:— 'Granted 2301 Rejected (including withdrawals, deaths, etc.) 677 Awaiting investigation on March. 31, 1910 .......: 776 Total 3757 Tho total clonus lodged since the Act came into operation now number 39,31b. Of these, 30,034 have been granted, and 51 per cent, of tlie latter are still in force. ' \' . The gross payments made on account of pensions during the year totalled .£362,495 11s., being .£25,735 14s. 10(1. in excess of the payments of the previous year. After making allowance for payments not passed through the accounts on account of some informality, and also for refunds of pensions overpaid, the net charge against the Consolidated Fund was 195 165., to which has been applied a credit of ,£20,142 12s. 7d., being revenue from the endowment lands. The net.increase in",the' cost for the year accordingly stands at .£5521 Is. 10d. The total now paid since the Act came into operation has reached the sum of .£2,767,011. Tho amount paid to the controlling bodies ol homes and hospitals during the year .totalled ,£19,949 Bs, lOd., the number of pensioners being maintained therein on March 31 being 793. These payments do not carry a Government subsidy.. Decrease in. Outdoor Relief. The decrease In the. annual expenditure on. outdoor relief since the Old Age Pensions Act came into 'force in 1898 is indicated by the following table-.— ■ .. - . Annual Costper . ■ ■ Cost of Head of Outdoor PopulaTear ended ■ Relief. , tion. .£ a. d. March 51, 18S!> R0.850 : . 1 4J „ 1900 . _.... 41,790 Il| „ • 1901 „. 42,181 11 '■' „ 1902 .„„ 38,934 0 11} „ 1903 43,421 1 0J „ * 1904 ;__ 42,618 1 0J „ 1905 40,799 0 11* „, 1906 .;;....„.;).- 39,547 0 10i. : „ '• 1907 38.3 US 010 „ 1908 . 33,998 0 8J „ 1909 ;.. 87,537 . 0 9i ~ 1910 '..... Not yet available Pensions for Invalids. Som* days ago Mr. Brown, M.P. for : Napier, asked whether the Government would extend, the Old Age Pensions. Act to chronic invalids. ; In reply the Government state that that experience in New South Wales, wliich State previously paid invalid pensions between the ages of sixty and sixty-five, proved that-there,was approximately one invalid pension out of every.ten ordinary pensions granted. There were no New Zealand records, but, applying the Now South Wales figures'to invalids between tho ages of sixty and sixty-five only, the estimated increased cost to pay pensions to invalids between these ages would be ,£36,000 .per annum. The number of invalids between the ages of sixty and sixty-five is no uonbt proportionately larger than at lower o^es;.but it is fair to assume .that, taianir' . sii.-ages up to sixty-five years, there .vould be' at least twice as many in all as those between the ages of sixty and sixty-five, on which basis the additional cost would be ,£72,000 per annum. Under tie circumstances, the time does not appear to be opportune to introduce the legislation suggested.