THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1913. UNIVERSAL PENSIONS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 July 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1913. UNIVERSAL PENSIONS.

;Mr H. Okey, member for New Ply-j mouth, has given noi-ice of his intend; tion to ask tiie (kjvemment if it will' fiirnish; a retail showing what woiiiu' be the ;oostv.of pcoviding pensions of< £3O pef year"Hqv '.-eyecy'] mian and "wo- i man in the Dominion who reaches the*, age of sixtyrfive years. /What good: purpose, if any, "such a return, would it is iTipossibie for us to say. If Mr. Qkey JJiinkg. that, a pension of £2O per year should be paid every person attaining the aige of sixty-five without discrimination, he i» proceeding along a line which is a! good way in advance of public sentiment. It would be absurd, for instance, to suggest that a retired public servant,! who ig possibly! receiving £3OO or ! £460 •per year from the "Treasury - ,: should .have an addition of £2O mad&j to his already liberal allowance.: , Equally ridiculous would it be to hand: hack £2O to a merchant or settler! who may be paying £SOO a year in j land and income tax. At the same, tpie, it cannot be denied that the present old age pension system is, in many respects, anomalous tod inequitable, and there is room for suspicion that it hag a pampering effect upon the community. More than that, the superannuation schemes that are appplied to the various departments of State, ■ which are, in reality, pensions on a glorified scale, are creating a too eager demand for State employment; It must be remembered that, although public servants contribute towards their superannuation allowances, the general taxpayer is ca]led upon to find a not inconsiderable sum to subsidise these contributions: It has long been regarded as unfair that one section of the: community should have adequate provision made for it in its old <age> while another should be left to the cold mercies of the world, or to scratch along on the miserable void age pittance. It should be quite possible for the? State to discover a sy.stetn under which every man and Woman shall be compulsorily insured, so that on reaching the age'of sixty or sixty-five he and she shall be able to draw a pension in proportion tothe amount contributed to the fund, with a State subsidy rd- ed. Tin re Would then be an incentive to thriftthat is not at present offered. It will be asserted in reply that the various Insurance Companies, under their endowment tables, make all provision that is necessary in this direction. They do, and they do not. There are so many conditions surrounding life insurance that they cannot /be availed of, as they should be, by the whole immunity. 'Moreover, if the Companies mate all the provision that is necessary for the general community, why did the' State introduce its superannuatior schemes? If life insurance and old •age pensions are good enough for the professional man, the farmer, the business man, and the worker, why •aire they not good enough for the nublic servant? We have for years been Impressed with the fact tltafc Wie public servant is quite as weSI ifcMe to mak» provision for His otiS iug§ &s

i/uo average professional man, and .liore able thiai the average worker, And we marvel that, the great masses <fi the people are .coa&enc to go on contributing towards the superannuation schemes oi tne Ijommion while i/hey are themselves thrown upon Lheir own resources ana left to what is nttie beiter chan charity. If Mr uimy can, by political attention to the anomalies of the old age jj-eiidKOi scheme, arouse public intervbb in ttie whole question of superannuation and pensions, tiie will render a useful service to the community, vThe "Liberal" Government pretended a desiie to .make adequate provision for the people of the Dominion in their old agei But its efforts to givo taugiibie expression to this desire resulted in tho "greasing, of the'i'at pig" at the expense of tne general taxpayer. No rational attempt has y«t been made to place all sections of the community on en equal footing,' and to produce a scheme that will increase the thrift of the people and provide for them all a reasonable allowance in their d&,dining years. .