BABY BONUS

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1160, 18 October 1913, Page 4

BABY BONUS

The “baby bonus,” introduced by the Fisher Government into the Commonwealth is apparently being used in a manner that was not anticipated by its authors, and at the same lime is costing a great deal more than their estimate. During a recent visit to Australia, Mr W. H. P. Barber, of Wellington, learned that nearly all the well-to-do people were applying for the bonus, when they were in a position to do so, but as a rule they donated the £5 to charitable institutions. The result was that not only did the charity concerned received the £5, but that amount being a gift, the Government had to subsidise it to the extent of 24s in the £. This meant that the Government had to pay to a working man on the birth of a child, but it was being squeezed for £ll per head in the case of the babes of the wealthy. To such an extent bad the practice grown that the secretaries of the various charitable institutions scanned the papers daily for news of births in the households of the rich, and lost no time in requesting the parents to apply for the bonus in the interests of charity. This is hardly what Mr Andrew Fisher intended when he brought in his monetary inducement to keep the cradles full, but it was what was actually happening in Australia.