The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1898.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 352, 11 October 1898, Page 2

The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1898.

The Old Age Pensions Bill has, as a matter of course, passed its third reading in the Assembly. Mr Rolleston made a last effort to make the provisions of the Bill other than charitable aid under another name, by moving " That as the Bill was but a form of poor-law it be recommitted for the purpose of remodelling it by establishing pensions on a contributory basis." The most ardent follower of Mr Seddon cannot help recognising that if a man deserves to be relieved of the stigma of pauperism, he must have made some effort to prevent his reaching that lamentable stage in his career. There are, however, a number of men who have no property and are incapable of earning a living at the present moment; these will of course have to be supported, whether you call the dole charitable aid or a pension. We recognise that a scheme has to be formulated under which contributions shall be made. No suggestion, as far as we have observed, has been made by any member in this direction. This was the n.ain difficulty which faced the Royal Commission set up by the British Parliament, if they could have surmounted this they would have brought their labours to a satisfactory conclusion, in place of being compelled to admit that none of the schemes for granting pensions were practicable, and that the multidue of counsellors who had appeared before them had not afforded them the key to the problem they were called upon to solve. The Bill, which has passed the House of Representatives, ignores every other consideration than that a man who has been a given number of years in the colony, and has conducted himself without scandal for some period before reaching the age of b'o is entitled to be nominally relieved of the stigma of pauperism. This, of course, is very simple, but it is a system calculated to encourage pauperism, and one that should never have been sanctioned by any legislature. It will certainly render the terms Pensioner and Pauper synonymous in New Zealand. We are as anxious as Mr Seddon or any of h s followers that the deserving poor should not be humiliated, and, further, that they should be provided with the

means to make their last march towards the grave as little irritating as possible. Desirable as this object is, it is bought too clearly, if secured at I all, by the present Bill. The money to meet the necessities of these old people is to come out of the consolidated revenue, and. as Mr Seddon has told us, this means fewer bridges or fewer roads for the country. The burden of tbo whole pension scheme will, therefore, according to Mr Seddon's own showing, rest upon the already over-burdened shoulders of the country settlers. There is no equality of sacrifice about this, to use the cant term of the period.