OLD-AGE PENSIONS.—CANON BLACKLEY'S SCHEME.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " EPECTATOR.1
Sre,--I trust I am not presuming too much upon your kind- mess if I ask once again for a small space in your valuable paper in order to put forward two or three thoughts which have occurred to me since my letter of February 1st in con- nexion with "old-age pensions," and since the Budget was read and Mr. Asquith's promise was given.
(1) The calculations contained in the late Canon Blackley's scheme of "national insurance" were all based on sick-pay and pensions combined, whereas the burning question of to-day is that of pensions only. Canon Blackley's actuary had proved that the sum of 210 per annum, or ls. 3d. per week, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one was necessary to secure sick-pay at any time and a pension at sixty-five. This amount would now naturally undergo a very considerable modification.
(2) Every one must be aware that there is a very real difficulty in inaugurating so large a scheme as universal old- age pensions. But would not the following be a possible solu- tion,—viz., that in addition to Mr. Asquith's promise of non- contributory old-age pensions, the compulsory insurance, paid by the people themselves, as suggested in the late Canon Blackley's scheme, should conjointly start as a law, and so make the Government help only a supplementary one ? This would from year to year become a lower tax for the nation, and it would make the people thrifty, sober, and self-respecting, and they would feel they had insured for themselves, no matter what their income was, say up to 21 a week.
(3) The very strong objection which has been made to the Old-Age Pensions Law on account of the expense of the weekly collection of small amounts from the masses might be overcome by the adoption of Canon Blackley's original sug- gestion that a special insurance-stamp of the exact value of the weekly payments (and for that purpose only) should be issued and be procurable at every post-office in the kingdom.
I have never to my knowledge heard of any other objections being brought forward ; and if readers of the pamphlet "Independence v. Pauperism" and friends of the proposal were satisfied with the above suggestions, we might hope for an early adoption of the late Canon Blackley's old-age pension
[We are asked to state that a pamphlet describing Canon Blackley's scheme, and suitable for distribution, can be obtained from Mrs. Blackley at the above address, at the rate of is. 6d. per hundred.—ED. Spectator.]
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