OLD-AGE PENSIONS.
[To THE EDITOR OW TUB "SPECTATOR:1
SIR,—In the Spectator of August 17th " W. C.," by mentioning the necessary qualification of twenty-five years' residence in the Colony, reveals a ground for granting an old-age pension in New Zealand which does not exist in this country. New Zealand, like other Colonies, seeks to attract immigrants. This is done by assisted passages, by grants of land on easy terms, and finally by saying : "If you will come and be one of us, even if you fail, you shall in your old age have a pension to fall back upon." In England, on the contrary, emigration is encouraged. In this the interests of the new country and of the old country are exactly opposed ; and the State old-age pension which may be good for one is bad for the other. Though the Englishman is helped to emigrate, he is free to remain and to provide for himself and his family. The small cost at which an old-age pension can be secured during the first years of work has been told in the columns of the Spectator. A few days ago the master of an elementary
school pointed out to me that, if be might collect a penny a week from each child in his school, the child at the end of his or her school life would have purchased an old-age pension. The parent, who a generation ago paid threepence a week for his child's schooling, might surely now pay a penny a week to secure his child's old-age pension.—I am, Sir, &c., Hollow Dene, Frensham, Farnham.
MORTON LATHAM.
Previous page
