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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 75
A "Deserving Colonist."
A "Deserving Colonist."
I have, then, to inform him that the line of conduct it has been my duty to indicate will lead him safely to an old age pension. He is fairly staggered, calls it the some-thingest lark he ever knew, yet is philosopher enough to inquire what it all means. Fortunately for me the Legislature has itself supplied the answer, and turning to the preamble I read as follows:—
Whereas it is equitable that deserving colonists who during the prime of life have helped to bear the public burdens of the colony by the payment of taxes and to open up its resources by their labor and skill should look to the colony for a pension in their old age.
After further unrepeatable exclamations of wonder and delight Mr Sikes withdraws, and as he goes—gaol-bird, drunkard, loafer, brute—on his congenial way to qualify as a "deserving colonist" for an old age pensioni I thank my stars that, though as a lawyer I am bound to give a faithful interpretation of the law as it stands, I did my best as a citizen, while the question was still open, to keep such an immorality out of the Statute Book.