THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2 1907. UNJUST TREATMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8866, 29 October 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2 1907. UNJUST TREATMENT.

The injustice of depriving an old age pensioner of his pension because he has happened to get into the clutches of a policeman during a temporary lapse from sobriety was again brought under the notice of the Government during a discussion in the House of Representatives last week in regard to old age pensions. Mr Poland, who brought the subject forward, contended that it was not fair that a pensioner who, perhaps, had once given way to drink should lose his pension, whereas a deepdyed individual, so long as he did not come before the courts, could continue to receive his money. There is a good deal to be said in favour of this contention. In the first place, the pension was never intended to be doled out as a charity. It was supposed to be the absolute right of every man or woman who, having resided in the colony twenty-five consecutive years, had reached the age of 65 and 60 respectively; and there does not appear to be any reason why the recipient should not use his pension money in any way that is legal. If he is arrested for intoxication, he should be as amenable to the law relating to the drunk and incapable as the ordinary citizen, but it is most improper that he should be penalised to the extent of the loss of his pension. A non-pensioner who is convicted of j drunkenness for the first time is usually discharged with a caution or mulcted in a small penalty; and even for a second or third offence the fine imposed rarely exceeds 10s or 20s. In a large percentage of the convictions for drunkenness, the offenders belong to the floating population of the dominion, and have no special claim for leniency; but the pensioner is a colonist who. by long residence may be held to have done his country some service, and on that account is entitled to some consideration. Surely he ought not to be treated with greater severity than his neighbour for the venial offence of an. occasional lapse from

temperance. It is undoubtedly desirable to put a reasonable ■ check upon such lapses, but the partial or total cancellation of the pension is little short of an outrage upon justice.