OBVIOUSLY UNJUST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9163, 10 August 1908, Page 4

OBVIOUSLY UNJUST.

A system of old age pensions that is justly planned should not punish the frugal while the thriftless may be rewarded, or, at any rate, secure what the State will not give to ths saving and hard working. An obvious injustice in the Old Age Pensions Act in this connection has been pointed out on several occasions, and we notice that Mr H. Okey (the member for Tsranaki) recently brought the matter up in the House. Referring to the advisability of amending the Act in several directions, Mr Okey remarked that there Was the question of the amount of the pension for a person who owned a little property. This was one of the worst points of all. In all our laws we ought 'o encourage peopla to b- frugal —we should not place a psnalty upon the men and women that have been thrifty during their lives. Out, under the Old Age Pensions Act, if a man I is sav'ng, and gets property to the | value of £370, when he arrives at the j pension age he is denied the pension I on account of his having saved during 1 his working years. Mr Okey con- ! eluded as follows: —"What is the j good of a pension to a man if he has to pay house-rent? We s-hould encourage people to be saving. I had a letter sent to me the other day in which it was state;! that an old man over sixty-five with a sister over sixty dependent on him, desired to get a pension. It appears that the old man has worked hard all his life, and that he has acquired property which is valued—a high value, for I know the property—at £370. This man has nothing to live upon, and he has to keep his sister. Yet under

the Old Age Pensions Act he cannot receive a pension. This is, I think, one of the worst cases that has been brought under the notice of the House, because it means that a man who has been careful and saving is punished."