They also wanted to encourage employers to institute their own
pensions schemes for their employees. If a further reason was needed it was that the State could not afford any more. It was true that a person who began to contribute at the age of 16 would pay for his own pension, nevertheless the State had in reality to provide for .a general capital liability of £746,000,000, for the cost of exempting from the means limit those who reached the age of 70 before 1928, for the cost of administering the scheme and for other charges. Mr. Wheatley had described the Bill as " a heartless, fiendish fraud," but what was the difference between this " fraud " and what Mr. Snowden had described as " the greatest boon to suffering humanity " ? The scheme which Mr. Snowden had contemplated introducing was obviously meant to be a contributory scheme and not a free gift from the. State. A non-contributory scheme would cost the State £31,000,000 after five years and £66,000,000 after four years. * * * *
