It was his intention that the two systems should exist side by side, but he hoped that, though there would be an inevitable residuum of the thriftless, the pensioner would in time become practically absorbed in the annuitant. He desired that many young married people should take advantage of the scheme. What he really wanted was power to compel everybody to join in it in proportion to his or her means. The difficulty which confronted him was that English-speaking people would not tolerate compulsion. He intended to do the next best thing by persuading people to help themselves in spite of themselves. He did not believe that his scheme would cost the State any more money than it paid at present; he even hoped that it would bring about a saving. At present the Government subsidises charities to the extent of £100,000 a year, and he felt that when his annuity scheme was put into operation the bulk of that expenditure, as well as a great deal of the expenditure on Old Age Pensions, would be saved.
He believed that the scheme was practical and possible. “Strength and health,” he said in 1906, “may be left to look after themselves, but when years bring their burdens, the claims upon our human kindness increase. Old Age Pensions, we were told, when we introduced the Bill, would destroy thrift, encourage idleness and extravagance, and spell all sorts of social trouble. We forced this ‘humanity’ through Parliament; and who to-day, of all those who opposed it, would venture to declare against it on the hustings? Apprehensions of poverty in old age often darken advancing years, and we will next session try to institute a system of State annuities by which the Government will subsidise the thrift and savings of the people, to provide them with a comfortable income in their old age.”
It was his doctrine that the life, the health, the intelligence, and the morals of a nation counted for more than riches. He wanted to see his country free from want and squalor and the unemployed. That was to him a far better condition than if the colony became the home of multi-millionaires. He was striving to make “New Zealander” a title of honour to the bearer wherever he went. He thought that it ought to imply a type of manhood “strenous, independent, and humane.”
