period is over three years. The claimant must not have been sent to gaol for four months during the twelve years preceding the date of application for a serious charge, “dishonouring him in the public estimation;” the desertion of wife or husband and of children is also a disqualification. The applicant must be of good moral character generally, and, for the five years immediately preceding the date of application, at any rate, must have been leading a sober and reputable life. At first no one with a yearly income of £52 could claim the pension, but the sum was altered in 1905 to £60. The joint income of husband and wife, including the pension, must not exceed £90, an increase of £12 on the sum originally fixed. The net capital value of the applicant’s property must not amount to £260. The pension is diminished by £1 for every complete pound of income over £34, and by the same sum for every complete ten pounds’ worth of net accumulated property. The pension is paid each month. Pensioners may be disqualified at any time by a Magistrate, who may order a pensioner to forfeit instalments of the pension in cases of drunkenness. The Maoris come into the scheme, but no aliens, Chinese, or other Asiatics can claim pensions. The total sum spent in pensions in 1906 was about £300,000. The ages of the pensioners range from 65 years to 104 years, and among them are between 600 and 700 Maoris.
At the time of his death, Mr. Seddon was engaged on a scheme of national annuities, which, no doubt, he would have carried through with the same determination that he brought to bear on his Old Age Pensions Act. Full details of his fresh project he did not make public, but the scheme may be stated briefly by saying that it embodied voluntary contributions subsidised by the State.
He proposed that, in order to receive an annuity in later years, any person, male or female, rich or poor, should be allowed to deposit with the Government any sum, paid in instalments, if desired, and the sum should be increased by the Government’s subsidy. As soon as the deposit was completed, there would be an end to the liability of the depositor. Compound interest would accrue on both deposit and subsidy. The
