The Daily News FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27. OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 286, 27 November 1908, Page 2

The Daily News FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27. OLD AGE PENSIONS.

In Hie Motherland there is published a weekly journal pretty widely known us tile ' .-spectator.' One reason way tliis literary production is widely known is because ll publishes what is culled a "summary oi .British ami foreign news lor re-iiui)licaticn ia the colonies ami aiuoiiy.il tile outlying States of tile Liupnv, 'ami ,i goodly number of colonial new spa pel'a avail themselves of me pr.vncg. of culling from the "siiiiunavy such items as um \ be thought of mI teresl. lu the general reader. The Spectator, which is conservative in its views, quarrelled with l.lie Conservative i'arlv when, through its advocacy of liscal eform, it appeared to abandon tile principles of tree trade, 'the .Spectator, regarding the Liberal Pari} as Hie bulwark oi tree trade, hailed its advent lo power; bill, when the Liberal Partyproposed to establish a system of old age pensions the jouniiil turned agaiust the. Liberals. According lo tne .-spectator, old age pensions are quite inconsistent 'with Hie principles of free trade. The Spectator does not appear to be awaie Hint in tlie various ttlates of Australasia old age have been established lor some years.

According i„ uie apecuuw, old age pens,ons wiHiiu sap me nuiiniood ot tne i.ue; tney Wo.ld ausului.'-ij' desLroy tne vanity and me stamina ot' the Aii'moSa.vou; ail the noble qualities inherent ill tile people would disappear, and they Would uccoiae a nerveless, impotent, flabby crowd of imbeciles dependent upon me State. This, and a lot more ot the same kind of thing, aow, the people of these colonies may, possibly, be woefully ignorant of the Ucnelieient mllueiices pervading tile principles of free trade, but they do Know sonieUling aooul old age pensions. Jt is asked here, has the establishment of old age pensions sapped the virility, the luuuhood and the inherent nobility of our people! New Zealand has just passed ihrou< r h the throes of a general election. ikis there been a single can.iid.itc who, gazing upon ilie iiiler wretchedness ami iuii.ee.my oi tile peopli- urging lVom old age pensions, lias proposed to repeal tlve Act'/ Has there iiccn one single, solitary elector in any district oi the Dominion who has asked a candidate if lie would be in favor of the repeal of the Act'/ Is it not a fact thai tiiere has never been an At-t passed Jn any Jnnu to which the people have given such an unanimous, t»icit consent as the people of New Zealand have given to the Old Age Pensions Act! \ew Zealand is not free trade, but if to-morrow the peuple of New Zealand desired free trade, does anyone suppose that in the Old Age Pensions Act there is something that would prevent them? Is it to be held that in England the position j§ so di/iemit Iroiii What obtains ill the colonies that there is an intimate relationship between old age pensions and free trade?

The Spectator ullirms that the Libe-al Government m Kngland was phieeu in power solely because the people desireu to maintain, tlie principle of free trade; that by the passing of un 01d Pun . slous Act it has violated those principles and betrayed its trust; that, therelore it deserves to be hurled from power! and would be so hurled if it went to the country to-morrow. To the colonial mmd this kind of criticism must appear incongruous, and doubtless when colonial newspapers re-publish it they do so for the amusement of their readers. me people in these colonies uavr had experience 0 f the working 0 f o |, ; age pensions; they know all about them'and u is quite unnecessary for the •Spectator or any other outside journal to come raving to them 011 the subject trow recent accounts the establishment of old age pensions in England will entail an annual expenditure of some s ; x or seven miliums, involving additional taxation, but last year there ws» a large available surplus, and, notwithstanding the depression in trade and tile consequent dillicultics of (inance , t j„ well that the great wealth of the llol'i erland and the abundance of it s resouives should be remembered. It is gratifying to find the Chancellor of t)n i liXcheijuer speaking honefullv, and no doubt a time will come when old a"e pensions in the .Motherland will be as Zealand!'I**' 1 **' ,)oln ' !ai ' tra iu Jfow