Old Age Pensions

Now, sir, you have expressed a doubt as to whether the new provision for old age pensions is likely to promote thrift in the community. I am not going to follow you on that burning and hazardous ground which approaches too near to party politics for an occasion of this kind, but after all, some of the anomalies might almost point to the fact that the encouragement of thrift in the sense of accumulation is one of the objects of the old age pension scheme, because when you see that those who have saved £800 or even £1000 are rewarded by receiving an old age pension of 5s. a week, no one can feel that the whole scope of this scheme is the discouragement of thrift. (Laughter and applause.) Some people, according to their party, call it a wasteful experiment, and some call it a wise and far-reaching experiment. I shall not take either side, but shall content myself with saying that it is experimental in its nature, and that we shall have to wait some little time before we can pronounce confidently on its operation.