The Waipukurau Press. Tuesday, May 15, 1906. OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Waipukurau Press, Volume I, 15 May 1906, Page 2

The Waipukurau Press. Tuesday, May 15, 1906. OLD AGE PENSIONS.

The Premier, speaking of Old Age Pensions recently, threw out a hint of a possible change which he said would place recipients of pensions beyond the reach of criticism. His suggestion is that anyone should be allowed to make deposits in the post office monthly', and that in proportion to the financial circumstances of the depositors, the Government should subsidise the amounts deposited on a sliding scale from 25 per cent on the poor man’s to 10 per cent on the better to do one's ueposit.. He felt satisfied that 90 per cent of the people of the colony would voluntarily avail themselves of the option. \V e are afraid he is rather optimistic in anticipating that such a large percentage would do so voluntarily. We might go a step further and sav whv should ti.ey. He has up to the present made every effort to make recipients of the pension believe that they ate not recipients of charity, but that if they have dune their part in colonising the country for twenty years they are entitled to it as a right. If this be so why should others who are putting in their time and growing grey hairs not have the same right without being asked to make up 75 per cent of the capital sum from which their pensions in the future will be paid. Readmits the scheme is not original, as it is in force in Germany and Belgium but he wishes to lead in the British Empire. There is no voluntary scheme in Germany. It is compulsory. Further it not an optional deposit but a contribution fixed by the state, the individual has to contribute one third, the employer of the individual one third, and the state subsidises with a third. If an attempt were made in New Zealand to make any deduction from a workman's wages, alter the last ten years of urv nursing he has undergone at the hands of the Government, we are under the impression that Cain would be resurrected and the kingly and humanitarian Dick would receive his quietus. That such a scheme in the future will have to replace the present gift system we are quite convinced, but we do not anticipate seeing it introduced until there is a decreased desire on the parts of the powers that be for the flesh pots of the Treasury benches.