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THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1912. NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND.

The Itangitikei Advocate, wl.ieh has consistently opposed the National {Provident Fund scheme as Icing delusive, draws attention to -the fact that the alleged benefits of the Fund are, being advertised in the Labour Journal, which is published under the authority of the Hon. Mr Massey. The Advocate thinks it .amazing that the Labour Department should seek to beguile working men into contributing to this fund, for the. whole scheme is certainly the most heartless and the most shameful fraud on the. working man that has ever been devised by any State. It is heartless because it inspires him with hope, while all its benefits are practically illusory, and it is shameful because it collects bis hard earned money and applies it to the use of the State without allowing him any interest for its use. We, feel confident that neither Mr Massey nor tho Departmental officers have ever studied how the provisions of tho Act must work to the, disadvantage of -workers who are deceived by it, or they would .at once take steps to repeal it or to en-,

feiiro that some, real ac.'ivr.titages shall I);. 4 i :;illu)it* to contributors. To "1- j lustrate its working wo will quote tht> four paragraphs in which the supposed advantages are sot ont t and show hew : they fail in the matter of -enahlo'2 j the workers to make sure provision against, "the rainy day." Wo will deal with each seriatim. The a.!- I | vertifioiiH'-it state-: that "The. Xatiun- ! i; •'-i-ident Fund is established to provi.lo the workers with the t'ol'ow- • . ■■ .'"'•( • / i 1. A payment not exceeding GO for medy-al attendance on the. birth of a contributor's child or ch:l'>cu after c;i::t;--ni!ti;'g for twelve months." i.. : '.- :;: to iirst that these alleged benefits are specially -confined to persons v. !io>e income miring the lasl three years has tiofc exeoedod £2OO per a;i:'ii!.n, and wlio during thai term have resided in Now Zealand. ]t will be observed that the maternity iillovvance is not payable until the com. ibutor has contributed: for 1-mo-.vths. so that if he is aged 27 when he begins to contribute he will have paid in £3 33s (id. But it does not follow that the State will pay the .£{> mentioned above, because the Art expressly declares that the- sura to bo paid may be limited to "the amount of the expenses actually incurred." So that the contributor may receive even less than has beem paid in during the 12 months, and the premise of £6 is therefore misleading. If. the contributor lias been contributing for say three years before a .maternity claim arises, thorn the State, even if it paid the full amount of £6, wouK l still retain £5 Os 6d of the contrimoney, and would pay no interest on it. The promise to provide for support during incapacity to work is also deceptive. It is sot out j ! m the advertisement as follows: — J 2. An allowance after three months' j incapacity to work of 7s 6d per week for each child of a. contributor under 14 years of age, due after contribut-'j ing for five years. Payable independent of any allowance due from Friendly Soieeties. No contributions payabl? vhile in receipt of incapaei' allowance. It will be observed that payment] does rot begin when incapacity oe- | curs, but only after it has lasted for j three months. It is also only pay-! able if the contributor has paid in for \ five years, by which time thp State would have received from him £l3 7s Qi. And if ho has no child under 1! years of age he will get nothing, as j the- payment is only made "for each > ohihV If a i7in.su pays the same ] amount weekly into any friendly society payment of benefit will begin, when incapacity through illness oecars, and he and hi-i family will also have the benefit of medi-.al attendance. Clearly then, there i* nr~ thing to be gained, but much to lose, if this grasping scheme operates. The pension allowed to one aged 27 who enters into this scheme and pays -Is od per week would be 10s weekly. But this is not payable till the contributor reaches the age of 60 years. By that time he would have paid in during the 47 years £172 14s 6d;, and at com- ( pound interest, which the State could l very well earn on the poor man's inoii- ! ey, it should, have enough in hand to pay his pension till long after he passed the "three .score years and j ten." The clause relating to the payment on death of the contributor is as follows : 1. An allowance on the death of a contributor of 75..6 d per week for each ( child until 14 years of age, and 7s 6.1 for the widow so long as any child/ fs'U»dor 14 years of age; due after contributing for five years. The widow, of course, gets no allowance if there are no childrenl-un-der 14, and here again the payment is made only "for each child under 14 , years of age." We observe that the advertisement brazenly states that the contributions are "below cost price." Where is the cost to.' the State? and where are the berofits to the individual? It is strange that the Labour members do not urge the j immediate repeal of the Act under I which this fund is established.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19121007.2.10

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10715, 7 October 1912, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
911

THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1912. NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10715, 7 October 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1912. NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND. Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10715, 7 October 1912, Page 4

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