37 



The Magna Charta of the Poor. — Art. 11. 



INTERVIEW WITH THE RIGHT HON. D. LLOYD GEORGE. MP. 



IliRKAKFASTED with the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer at ii, Downing Street, on Thursday 

 morning, December 14th, 191 1. It was a plea- 

 sant i>arty ; the only other person present not belong- 

 ing to the family circle was Mr. C. P. Scott, of the 

 Mivichestcr Guardian. The Chancellor, who had 

 made a great speech in the House of Commons 

 the previous day in defence of his Budget, was 

 late in coming down, and we were nearly through 

 breakfast when he arrived. 



THE TOUGH .ANLl WIRY \VF,r,SHM.4N". 



I was amazed when I saw him. He has just passed 

 through ])erhaps one of the most trying ordeals that 

 any British Minister has had to pass through. During 

 a long and jirotracted Session he has had to fight his 

 Insurance Bill, clause by clause, through the House 

 of Commons. The Bill was one of innumerable 

 details, involving the social life of the people at every 

 turn. It was bitterly assailed by the interested classes, 

 each of which fought (or its own hand. In addition to 

 his Parliamentary labours he had been continually 

 receiving deputations, interviewing recalcitrants, nego- 

 tiating difficult points with his adversaries, and defending 

 ills policy on the platform. To work sixteen hours a day 

 through the whole of the Session which is now closing 

 is a record of which Mr. Gladstone's heroic conduct of 

 the Irish Land Bill through the House of Commons 

 affords the only parallel. Imagine then my amaze- 

 ment on finding .Mr. Lloyd George, instead of being 

 worn to a shadow, in more robust health than I had 

 ever seen him before. He was in the highest spirits, 

 and instead of losing had put on weight. ^Mrs. Lloyd 

 George was the subject of general congratulation on 

 the care which she had taken of her husband, 



" Oh, you Welsh are tough I " said I. " I think that 

 insurance companies should make a reduction of fifty 

 per cent, on the premiums on all Welsh lives, because 

 of the demonstration which you have afforded of their 

 superior vitality. But now to business." 



THK MAONA CHARTA OF THE POOR. 



"The National Insurance Bill," said Mr. Lloyd 

 Cieorgc, "is the second great legislative measure 

 by which we have attempted to grapple with what 

 Mr. Carlyle called the ' condition of England ' 

 question. For years |)ast statesmen of both 

 parties hflvc recognised the urgent need of deal- 

 ing with the amelioration of the condition of 

 the people. There has been a spirit of vague 

 discontent, the national conscience has been stirred 

 front time to time, but hitherto our etilbrts have 

 been more or less limited to sporadic voluntary 

 efi'orts, with occasional attempts at legislative action. 

 Pledges were given at election after election, but 

 were never fulfilled! But now, seeing its op()oriunity 

 at last, the Liberal Government has taken off its coat 



and is wrestling in grim earnest, and in its shirt-sleeves, 

 so to speak, with the great evils from which the people 

 suft'er. 



" Our first measure, of course you know, was the Old 

 ."Xge Pensions Act, which secures for every necessitous 

 old man and old woman in the three kingdoms on their 

 seventieth birthday a pension of 5s. a week. At the 

 beginning that measure was regarded with consider- 

 able distrust. It seemed too good to be true to many 

 of the old people, who at first would stand outside the 

 post office hesitating to go in for their 53., fearing 

 that ' somebody was making fools of them.' It was 

 not until a year had passed that they fully realised the 

 fact, which seemed to them almost a bewildering 

 miracle, that as long as they lived they would receive 

 53. a week from the National Exchequer without 

 being asked to pay one penny in return. After the 

 first year, however, the popularity and success of that 

 measure was so firmly assured that at the last General 

 Election the worst accusation that anyone could bring 

 against a candidate was that he was in favour ot 

 tampering with that first great article in the Magna 

 Charta of the poor." 



" How much does it cost now ? " I asked. 



" Thirteen millions sterling per annum. That was 

 our first contribution towards the solution of the great 

 problem that confronted us. The National Insurance 

 Bill is the second." 



THK CO.ST OF INSURANCE. 



" How much is that going to cost ?" I asked. 



" The National Insurance Bill," said Mr. Lloyd 

 George, " unlike the Old Age Pensions .Act, is on a 

 contributory basis. That is to say, whereas the Old 

 Age Pension is paid to any person who arrives at the 

 age of seventy, without his having maile any contri- 

 bution to the Pension Fund other than that of having 

 paid rates and taxes during his long life, the Insurance 

 Bill is an attempt made by the State to compel work- 

 men and employers to co-operate in a great insurance 

 scheme for the benefit of the workmen. The State 

 simply puts a premium, so to speak, upon the contri- 

 butions of the em[)loyers and employed. 'I'hat is to 

 say, the workman pays 4d., the workwoman pays 

 T,(\., and the State adds id. So far as the workman 

 is concerned he jjays 4d. a week and is credited with 

 9d., which he takes out in benefits." 



IHK IIENKFITS SliCt/RKD. 



" Would you recapitulate these benefits ? " 

 " Certainly," said Mr. Lloyd George ; " the whole 

 thing can be put in a nutshell. I'he working man 

 pays 4d. a week and the working woman pays 3d. a 

 Week. In return they are guaranteed free medical 

 attendance when they an: ill, 10s. a week for twenty- 

 six weeks when they are oft work owing to ill-health 

 if they are men, or 7s. 6d. per week if they arc 



