NOTES AND COMNTENTS.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, 29 October 1898, Page 6

NOTES AND COMNTENTS.

[By Erubba.]

That a good deal o! interest is *beii>g taken an the -question of Rating on 'Unimproved Tallies is evidenced >by -the fact thatitcropped up at last Borough Council meeting. Under--standing that the data necessary to «how how the system would work if adopted in the Borough is not at the moment available, I have made some calculations which should •come very near the truth. The annual value <t)f properties in the Borough is £7220 ; assuming this to be 7£ per cent, of 'the capital value, the latter would be £96,266. Examination of statistics for .other places makes it «afe to assume th« value of improvements to be About tvrioe ,as much as that of the land, or improved value. Suppose th« unimproved value of the borough to be £36(000, and ,it is required to raise the same amount by rates. as at present, «ay £360, the rate to be levied would equal nearly 2sd in the £. Take the case of the owner of a section worth £30 on which the house and other improvements are worth £170. Under ike present system the annual value would probably be £15, and the rate Ids a year. Under unimproved .value the rate would be 2£d in the £on £30, or 6s 3d. Thus it will be seen that every ironroyed-jjioneriy. would pay much less than at present, while the unj "feg^eSTwßioh now practically .escapes woulcrEave to pay the difference.

The Dia Age pensions BUI is a, Bill no longer. The Legislative Counoil by passing ibe measure on Monday last made it an Act of Parliament. The pension <scheme embodied in the Act is far from being a, perfect one, but it is a great step in the right direction. as it is it will be of immense benefit to many deserving colonists. It ,has many faults, but the great thing achieved ii that we have acknowledged the right of every aged man and woman to a fixed allowance out of the public funds, not as a charitable dole, but as a return for services rendered .to the colony. Many enquiries are being made as to what utepß ire to be taken to obtain the pension, and I shall .endeavour to place tht matter before your readers as clearly and briefly ai I can. The claims put in some jears ago are now of no effect, and allentitled must apply for the pension, as provided for in the Act just passed. The 'highest to be paid to one individual is LlB a year, paid in twelve monthly instalments. A claimant must be full 65 years of age, and have resided ,in the colony 25 years. In the case of persons possessing property the pension is reduced JLI ; a year for every Ll5 of property of .any kind above XidO. For instance, if a pensioner has household effects to the value of ,L5O his pension will be LlB. If in addition he has .a house and section worth L6o(that is four times hi 5) his pension will be Ll4, and so on till if, 'in addition to the L5O exemption, a claimant has L 270 Tvorth of .property or JD32O worth in all, no pension will da given. -If .a claimant has income from any source amounting to L 52 or more .a year, no .pension will be allowed. If ihe income is not more than L 34 a year, the iull pension, LlB, will be given. If the income is over L 34 and under L 52, LI will be (dedutted from the pension for .every LI of income over L 34. Thus, if an applicant •arne, L4O a year, the pension will be Ll2 ; M the income is L 42, the pension will be Lift, And jo on till L 52 .is reached, when, as

-already explained, no pension will be given. In the case of a, married couple living together, the income is divided as if each earned half. If the husband earnt a pound a week, it is reckoned as if the husband and wife had each an income of -L 26 a year, and the full pension of LlB >wili be -given to each. The matter is somewhat complicated when there it both property and inoome to be taken into jftccount, but still easily explained. Suppose an aged couple have a house and furniture worth Ll7O, and the husband earns LBO a year, this ii what would happen. Each of them would be reckoned as getting L4Q, which would mean a deduction of L 6 tfrom the pension of etoh, and if there were only property to~tke value of L5O, each would get Ll2 pension. But Ll7O is Ll2O (or 8 timeg Tjls) more than L5O exemption and a further deduction of L8 would be taken from the pension of the one who owned the property. There are condition! as to character and to the payment of the pension in exceptional cases, which it ii not necessary to refer to here. In applying 'for a pension, a person •fills -up » printed form with 'the necesiary particulars, and a declaration as to the truth of these is sworn to before a justice of the peace, solicitor, postmaster, or Deputy Registrar df pensions. The claim is sent to the Stipendiary Magistrate and the Cleric of the Court gives the applicant notice of the day whea he can attend and have his case heard in open court. If for >any sufficient reaion the applicant is not able to attend -the court, personal attendance may be dispensed with. If everything is satisfactorily proved before the Magistrate, a certificate is issued, and tht pension begins on the first day of the month. In the meantime the Act is only passed for three years, I>ut "there can be no doubt it hag -come to stay.