Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 1878] Being the extended title of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is identical. TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1892. STATE-AIDED PENSIONS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4169, 19 July 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times [ESTABLISHED 1878] Being the extended title of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is identical. TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1892. STATE-AIDED PENSIONS.

A question must have come within that sacred pale known as "the sphere of practical politics," when it has attracted the serious attention of Mr Joseph Chamberlain. That gentleman admits no ideals within his ) purview; and a scheme which can show that it possesses his advocacy may be considered to present a voucher ! for respectability, and a guarantee of common sense. This is just now the ' fortunate position occupied in England by the question of providing for the people's old age. That the necessity exists for dealing with this question, requires—we suppose—no proof; but the quotation of a.few figures may serve to give our readers some con- , ception of the actual state of things, Up to the present time, no full enquiry on any definite basis has been made by the Home Government into the real proportion of paupers to population. But what the authorities art slow to undertake has been atB tempted by competent individuals—j on an inconsiderable scale, it is true, hot with most valuable results. In 1885, Canon Blackley, an enthusiastic 0 and thoughtful advocate of National Insurance, gave evidence before & ! Parliamentary Committee to the . effect that an elaborate examination of parochial burial records showed f that of nil persons dying over sixty s years of age (so far as the enquiry could go), 42 per cent, died in a condition of pauperism. Canon , Blackley urged the Government of i that day to carry out with the com- » pleteness possible to authority, the : , work which he had inaugurated with ) infinite pains under tho disabilities and limitations which attach to indir " virtual and non-official effort. But the s vis inertias against which he had to ) contend was too strong for him. The | Government commended him, thanked i him for his valnablo services—and, mm sua, did nothing. \ A few years afterwards, Mr Charles 1 Booth, a wfill-lmpwn philanthropist, . addressed himself to an enquiry.T?hich j proceeded on a plan the exact • converse of Canon Blackley's. The latter had taken the records of the \ dead as the basis of his calculations | Mr Booth tabulnted the statistics 1 which concerned the living. He studiedithe Poor Law-returns which showed the number of persons receiy- ' fag Poor Law doles in the most important Unions of England. His results agreed remarkably nitb Canon Blacklev's. The proportion of paupers to working population in England and Wales appeared, according to Mr Booth's method of computation, to be about the same as that exhibited by ' bis co-worker, the clergyman. When we remind our readers that these investigations were made in different yearsand in different parts of England, it will be seen that the coincidence of calculation k important. ■ Mr Chamborlain, who has had, perhaps opportunities of procuring information Some of which are unattainable by 1 the'above'.mentio'Ku £" Diiemen, has recently stated that nearly M/the working population of England seems to be doomed to die in pauperism. We need not labour the point; its general truth will be admitted hy any student of the subject, Let us pasQ to-the consideration of Mr Ohamberlain's soheme for applying a remedy to this terrible state of things. Broadly speaking, his pro- i nosals are in tho'direotion of offering eons willing to ffiaM some effort; towards providing for themseW, ; , Of course it can be urged, and very , justly, that the weak point oilanysuob j plan, is precisely this-thatit benefits j those only who are willing and able to I do something for themselves, that it j cannot reach men who (either by. , reason of abject poverty pr by thrift- i less lives) have made no sort of flm- , tribution to the fund dwigaed for c

their benefit. That being: so, the provision of pensions in old age for the majority of people who at present die paupers is 88 far off at ever. This is true; and a further argument against the proposal may be found in the fact that the thrifty in (lie working classes are already making solf-provision through their membership of Friendly Societies. But these Societies have not, we believe, touched the question of providing pensions. The ordinary benefit conferred by them relates to seasons of Bickness only, The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows, 6aid to number 700,000 persons, once put forth a proposal to its members for a voluntary pension scheme, Outof the vast membership of that society, only two persons fell in with the proposal. It is possible that this startling result is due partly to a feeling of unwise contentment with the provision already contracted for. But it i 3 just as possible that intelligent working men, who have at all studied the subject, feel that nothing approaching a positive guarantee can be given by any Society (however solvent at present) that in years to come it will he able to pay annuities in accordance with the scale originally inlentied. The purchasing power of money varies from time to time, fixity of interest can never be calculated upon; premiums must necessarily vary as years go on, if the Society is to carry out its annuity proposals in their integrity. Aud there is always a certain risk that the management of any corporate body may deteriorate in the course of time. To these contentions we know of only one answer, Any proposal for annuities for the masses must have behind it all the strength oi the National Credit.