Old Age Pensions.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 28, 10 July 1902, Page 17

Old Age Pensions.

Therj aa^m^. unfortunately, muehi reason to believe that a number of persons are drawing old age pensions without possessing the nece-mry quahfica'ion of poverty. It is very evident that the Department feela dom3 unea-une^ on the subject, for it is understood that a lar^e number of oiie* are under unsuspected observation, and that some prosesutions may folio at. No doubt this waß to be expected. The magi-trates, a 3 we 1 1 as the public, were much impressed by the n^eltyof the si^'nt of the old men and women hobbling np for examination as to their mean?, and probably in the first bluah of enthusiastic beneficence inquiries were not too scrupulously pushed home. But it is evident that on its

present basis the Old Age Pensions Act caunot Bur. vive unless its provisions be adhere 1 to. It was intended for the benefit of poor people, and not for those whose friends become convenient holders of their property for the time bein£. It would be very much better, from a moral point of view, to grant an old-age pension to all persons in the Colony over 05 years of age, regardless of their means. In this at least there would be no deception, and the Act would be saved from the danger brought about by an annually increasing cost, which is certain to excite, first, discontent, and then open opposition. Up to the present few have been hardy enough to condemn the Act. On the contrary, it haa bticsti the faishiou to commend it, aud to recomnicud it for imitation elsewhere. The fear now is that on the next ' roar for retrenchment,' which cannot be far distant, the old-age pensioners may suffer. And this may perhaps be avoided if the expenditure i a kept within fair bounds, and strictly limited to those who are actually in want.