A point of curiously wide interest was raised during the
dis- cussion of Thursday on the annual vote for Education. It appears that no class suffers more from want of provision for old age than the Certificated Schoolmasters, and Mr. Forster is considering whether some form of pension is not possible for them. We wish the Treasury could find time to look into the whole question, and decide whether the Indian system is not applicable to this country. There every civil servant of the State can, by payment of a fixed per-tentage on his salary, secure to himself a pension for old age and an annuity for his widow. Government only helps by granting liberal interest and by a guarantee. If such a system could be established in England, wages might be increased three per cent., but we should gradually be rid of all dead-weight, and the lives of whole classes would be rendered easier. People want pensions after a fixed term, not on a system which punishes them for keeping fit for work.
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