PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 507 



For such social diseases as these there is uo cure-all. The 

 rtcognitiou of them as social diseases at all is a plant of quite 

 recent growth, aud so far from prescribing any cure or even pal- 

 liative being possible, it must be confessed that the magnitude and 

 extent of the diseases are not yet fully understood. 



The most promising means of coping with these ills is insurance, 

 and we hear frequently now of schemes of social insurance against 

 unemployment, sickness, permanent incapacity, and so on. 



That these ills were ills to the community as well as to the in- 

 dividual sufferer has been recognised for some time by large em- 

 ployers of labour. These have found it to their advantage to 

 build model towns in which their employes could live in healthy 

 sanitary surroundings, with free medical attendance and hospital 

 accommodation and sanitoria for the convalescents, as well as main- 

 tenance for the dependents of the sufferer during his period of 

 incapacitation. 



If it has proved advantageous to private employers it must also 

 be advantageous to the State to do the same. 



As one- feature of this movement we see much increased interest 

 being shown in the question of the maintenance of men and 

 women in the shape of pension or superannuation schemes. 



I propose in this paper to confine myself to the consideration of 

 pension or superannuation funds as attached to and for the benefit 

 of the employes of various corporations or services. 



The question of national old-age pensions, as granted by the 

 State, is quite outside the limits of this paper. 



For some years past my attention has been called to pension 

 funds, as existing in private and Government employ, and as I 

 liave found that ignorance of the principles underlying the forina- 

 tion and carrying on of such funds is so deep and so widespread 

 among employers and employed, I thought perhaps a few remarks 

 on these matters would not be amiss. 



A pension scheme or fund is usually set up by the employer 

 when the service has been many years in existence and has attained 

 a stable, assured position. 



The motives governing the employer's action in so doing are 

 very human, and never, so far as I know, purely philanthropic. 

 Enlightened self-interest plays a very large part in his action. 

 This fact, of course, makes for the permanence of the scheme or 

 fund, as its continuance works out equally well for employer and 

 employed. 



A service, after some 25 or 30 years of existence, during 

 which it has firmly consolidated its position as a going con- 

 cern, finds itself in the position of having in its employ a number of 

 old servants who have given loyal service and have spent them- 

 selves in it and have passed their prime. 



