NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10195, 23 March 1911, Page 5

NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND.

AN-EXPLANATION.

Mr R. E. Hayes, Superintendent of . the National Provident' Fund, writes as follows lo the editor of the Wairarapa Age .. Dear. Sir* — In your issue of the 16th inst. there appeared some re- | marks on the operation of the National Provident Fund. As several I of the statements made are capable ' of misconstruction, 1 shall', bo glad I if you will allow me in the interests of intending applicants to'refer to the. more points discussed.v. In 'tho first place there is quoted the; case of .the p&fsoh 'u'lto may at age-' 45 increase his .pension' to four time's the original a neurit,' but is required to pny. a proportionately increased 'contribution. This is an extreme case, and can affect very few contributors, the majority of I whom would naturally increase the j pension rate at an, earlier' age . and j at a. lowsr contribution rate, In • any event the . National Provident Fund ensures that ..whether a .contributor pays at the low rate or for the higher pension the full amount' of the other valuable benefits in ma ternity, during incapacity, and ,to widows and children is equally claimable by all. Moreover, should these allowances not equal: all the contributions paid in the difference is payable at death before 60. In considering the number of who are expected to survive at age 60, your figures, based on infants, just-born,, convey the impression j that only a very small number of, contributors would survive to age 60. As a matter of fact the New Zealand Population Tables show that out. of 1000 people, age 25, which can be taken as the average age of applicants, no less than 678 survive to age 60, quite a different proportion to the 369 mentioned in your columns. ■ This .fellows that the average young man's chance of reaching 60 is nearly three out of four. .The surmise that the Fund is intended to take the place of the Old Age Pension is met most effectively by Section 21 of the National Provident Act, which expressly provides that no one will forfeit the right to the Old Age Pension by any benefits received from the National Provident Fund. There is also the instance of the contributor with eight children who is incapacitated and was receiving only £2 wages. In assessing his allowance on the basis of "pecuniary loss," such a case could not be governed solely by the wage Toss during an illness which usually entails expense and loss much in excess of the wage rate.