The Hastings Standard Published Daily SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1897. THE AGED POOR.

Hastings Standard, Issue 329, 22 May 1897, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily

SATURDAY, MAY 22, 1897. THE AGED POOR.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Since the Hon. J. Chamberlain brought the subject of old age pensions before the people of the United Kingdom it has been boomed into a firstclass question by all degrees of politicians. The colonial politicians, ever alive for any new fad, have seized upon it, and have endeavored at one bound to bring it within the sphere of practical politics. At the present moment both in New South Wales and Victoria Commissions are engaged in making enquiries into the matter. In Melbourne the officials of several charitable institutions and organisations, both public and private, have recently been under examination, and the general opinion of these experts is not of a kind to encourage the hopes of those philanthropists who desire to see old age pensions distributed by the State. According to the Victorian officials nine-tenths of the aged poor of Melbourne are undeserving of charity ; that is to say, the causes that have led to their indigence have been either intemperance or improvidence. Drink, according to these officials, was the chief manufacturer of aged poor. The benevolent scheme of old age pensions is intended by the advocates to relieve the necessities of the aged and deserving. Jt cannot be said that a person who owes his poverty to excesses in liquor is a deserving object of public charity. If there is to be any distribution of pensions to indigent old people it will be necessary to take in all that may be so classed, whether deserving or otherwise ; to attempt to discriminate between the deserving and undeserving would reduce the scheme practically to a farce. Of course it may be argued that an equitable pension system could be worked if those who expect to be the recipients of the pension made weekly or monthly contributions in anticipation of the time when they will be drawing upon the fund. Then there comes this difficulty: If the matter is to be left to the option of the individual the improvident and intemperate would not make the necessary contribution and would therefore in old age be without any pension and dependent as now on the doles of charity. If the contribution is to be compulsory it is patent that everyone must contribute, for who can tell what may be his or her circumstances in ten or twenty years time ? Is it not a common experience to see men and women in affluent circumstances at 30 and paupers at 60. In young countries where the conditions are subject to such rapid changes a man's purse may

be well lined to-day and quite empty in a year or two. It will therefore be necessary that all should contribute to the pension fund, exemptions being allowed to those who are able to satisfy the authorities that other arrangements have been made that will relieve them from the necessity of drawing upon the fund. Even if the scheme of old age pensions is practicable the question of ways and means is one insurmountable barrier. This has been acknowledged by experts, still there is a faint hope amongst the philanthropists that this difficulty may be overcome. It seems, however, that we can go a long way towards attaining the object in view by quite other means. The Government Life Insurance Department is not utilised to the extent it ought to be. We were struck by the lavish praise and congratulations that were showered upon the Government Insurance Department over the fact that it had a certain sum for division amongst the policy holders. We take it that the Department was never meant for profit makiDg, either for division amongst policy holders or otherwise ; it was, we think, established for the dual purpose of affording the people cheap insurance and absolute security. The guarantee of the State is behind the Department, which makes it absolutely storm proof. The Department made a profit during the triennial period and the amount has been distributed among the policy holders. That a profit was made is an indication that the rates of insurance charged by the Department, low as they are, are capable of further reduction. If this reduction were made it is possible that many people who are now unable to insure would then be able to take advantage of it. But this is not so much to the point; it is evident that the Department, which has amply demonstrated its usefulness, can be further extended. Moie attention should be given to the subject of annuities, and these be so arranged that the poorer of the working classes may be able to make provision for themselves. If this could be done it would tend to reduce the annual crop of the aged poor. How to get at the improvident and intemperate is a matter wholly beyond us. So long as human nature is what it is we shall have a certain percentage of this class, and when a successful scheme, just and equitable in its provisions, is devised to meet the needs of the old topers and spendthrifts we think the millenium will have arrived.