Hill. — National Pensions. 695: 



the individual, and befriend him, without the cruel system of 

 pauperisation, such as is adopted in the Old Country, and 

 which is the direct product of the feudal system ? 



We in this country ought to be sufficiently capable of 

 determining for to-day and to-morrow whether the poor-laws 

 of England have or have not been a failure, and whether they 

 should be allowed a foothold amongst us. In feudal times 

 the destitute were helped by the monastic and religious or- 

 ganizations as a duty, and that duty was carried out until the 

 spoliation of the monasteries by Henry VIII., who also con- 

 fiscated the possessions of the ti'ade guilds. From then till 

 now there has been an increasing tendency to organization 

 among the workers and the masses as a means of preserving 

 themselves and their interests against an aristocracy of wealth 

 possessing almost unlimited powers. In 1536, so bad had 

 grown the state of affairs, that the Parliament enacted that 

 voluntary alms should be collected in every parish for the 

 purpose of relieving impotent poor. A similar Act was again 

 adopted in 1555 ; and in 1563 another Act was passed, making 

 it competent for the Justices and churchwardens in petty 

 sessions to tax any obstinate person who refused to give 

 willingly a weekly aid to the relief of the poor — such sum as 

 in their discretion they deemed proper and just. This state 

 of things continued till the celebrated poor-law of 1601, by 

 which relief was provided for those who could not work — 

 " the poor by impotence " ; work for those able and willing — 

 " the poor by casualitie " ; and imprisonment for the idle — "the 

 thriftless poor." Under our system there ought never to be 

 indigent poor such as are to be met with in England. Our 

 institutions are not based upon feudal tenures, and our social 

 and political institutions recognise the fullest equality between 

 man and man. 



"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" are un- 

 alienable rights, and the aim of a community living under 

 democratic institutions should be as the aim of a parent who 

 has a family to train and to regulate. Organization is the 

 leading characteristic of good government, and whilst in the 

 production of wealth the individual has full scope for the 

 exercise of the powers, the State, as a wise and careful parent, 

 should safeguard and regulate those interests which affect the 

 lives and well-being of each individual. We have seen how 

 under our present social arrangements a large proportion of 

 those in friendly societies who aim to insure against times of 

 sickness or old age lapse or fall owing to causes beyond their 

 own ability to prevent, and the same thing takes place under 

 the various assurance schemes in operation. Under a pro- 

 perly organized scheme such "lapses" would be impossible, 

 and the question arises whether the time has not come to 



