OLD AGE PENSIONS.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 879, 1 May 1903, Page 2

OLD AGE PENSIONS.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Received 9.56 p.m., April 80. Sydney, April 30. The Central Board charged with tho administration of the Old Ago Pensions Acf, in its first official report points out a number of defects in the Act which probably Government will amend this session. Tbe mode of payment through a bank involves a greater outlay than under tho Now Zealand sytern. The Board points out that if the latter’s system were adopted it would save £BOOO a year, although the working of tho Act is the samo as that ol Now Zealand, Qualifications for pension providing twelve months' prior destitution was, on tho advico of the AttorneyGeneral, dispensed with in favor of a person destitute at the timo of granting the pension. Tho Board finds that ag the rental of a small tenement absorbs the bulk of tbe pension of 15s per woek granted to married couples, they advise the erection of cottages for pensioners at the State expense. They estimate that comfortablo quarters could be provided for 3s 6d per week, that is interest on cost at 3 per cent.