LEGISLATIVE PROGRESS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2430, 19 February 1909, Page 2

LEGISLATIVE PROGRESS.

NATIONAL ANNUITIES. DETAILS OF THE PROPOSALS. In the course of his remarks at die complimentary social gathering tendered to Air G. W. Russell, ALP., at Christchurch, on Thursday evening the Attorney-General (the Ron. Dr. Findlay) made some reference to the humanitarian legislation that lie hoped Air Russell would assist the Government to place on the Statute Book. One of the measures by means of which the Government hoped to advance the interests of New Zealand was, lie said, the National Annuities Bill. This measure, already placed before Parliament, recognised that the State had a very direct interest in the welfare of the married workers. It recognised that the welfare of the home was one of the most important considerations that the State had to conserve, and that the man and woman who were fulfilling the highest duty of citizenship by raising sturdy, healthy children, deserved not only -sympathy hub substantial help from tho State. “AYe already are endeavoring, as State employers, to encourage the married workers,” lie said, ‘-ami that spirit is spreading. The .more philanthropic private employers are employing married workers in preference to single workers when other things are equal and rightly so. You must agree that the very existence of our country depends on the number of healthy, native-born men and women who are to bear the burdens of the future. Alive to the need for this encouragement and to the necessity and prudence of rendering the married workers less beset with fears and doubts, wo introduced that Bill last year. To give an idea of its scope, I will quote the case of a young man of twenty-five who agrees, under the Bill, to pay Is 3d a week, and subsequently marries and has a family of four children. If his payments continue until the age of forty-five ho will ho entitled to a pension of 10s a week at the age of sixty. Should ho die after having continued his payments for five years, his wife will receive 7s Gd a week and each child 7s Gd a week up to the age of fourteen. That provision will relieve many men from the burden of responsibility which besets the conscientious married worker of low income. AYhen the Bill lias been passed no worker need leave his family in want. The Bill goes further, for it aims at relieving the lowsalaried worker from the fear of incapacity. After payments have been continued for five years, a contributor who shall become ” incapacitated by sickness or accident will know that as long as he is unable to work each of his children will receive 7s Gd a week. The man will thus be sure of a steady revenue. The payment of Is 3d a week does not cover the benefits that are offered, blit no sensible man will quarrell with the State bounty in this direction-. The scheme will be confined to workers not earning more than £2OO a year, and I think that is desirable because we want to assist those who need assistance. Then if a contributor wants to withdraw from the scheme at any time he will receive on giving due notice, tho full amount of his contributions, less any benefits he has received. No country in the world lias such a liberal system as the one we propose, and that Bill put forward by the Liberal Government; deserves the very hearty support of the country.” An ally of the National Annuities Bill was the Bill providing for a special land settlement scheme, under which any group of ten people might join together in the purchase of an estate for subdivision, and the State would guarantee the money. The greatest of all possible reforms was to get people on the land. The growing evil of modern times was the drift from the country into the crowded towns, and New Zealand was facing that evil. The country wanted close settlement, and every step m that direction should have the hearty support of the whole mass of tho people. Settlement of the land was the best guarantee for the future, and the aim of the Government and of the Liberal Party would be to prevent land monopoly and Ix> direct the population towards the country rather than towards the towns. New Zealand could afford to give the people on the land the measure of comfort

:o which they were entitled, and the absence of which brought them into tho towns. (Applause.)