{"story":["Before 1898 elderly New Zealanders who became ill or unable to work relied on family support or charity. The colony had attracted a large number of single male immigrants, and by 1900 there were numerous elderly men without family. Those who could no longer live independently often became residents of benevolent institutions, set up from the 1860s by provincial charitable aid boards and religious bodies, which Te Ara describes as often grim, uncomfortable places. In the early 1880s Colonial Treasurer Harry Atkinson proposed a needs-based insurance scheme, funded by levies on workers and income from Crown leases, that would have paid modest orphans', widows', sickness and old-age benefits, but his parliamentary colleagues gave it a cool reception. In 1889 Germany introduced an old-age pension paid for by contributions from employers, workers and the state.","The reform became most closely identified with Richard Seddon, the Liberal premier, who promoted it over several years against strenuous opposition. His biographer David Hamer links Seddon's interest to a long-standing concern for the welfare of ex-miners on the West Coast, where he had entered politics, and notes that his wife, Louisa Seddon, took a close interest in the measure. Seddon introduced the Old-age Pensions Bill on 21 September 1898. The bill met a major stonewall (a prolonged delaying tactic) and was debated continuously in committee for 90 hours, with more than 1400 speeches; Seddon slept through parts of it at the Table of the House with an opossum-skin rug over his lap. The Act was assented to and became law on 1 November 1898. Its preamble declared it 'equitable that deserving persons who during the prime of life have helped to bear the public burdens of the colony' by their taxes, labour and skill should receive a pension in their old age.","The pension was small and hard to get. It paid at most £18 a year, and the full amount went only to people with an annual income of £34 or less and property worth no more than £50. Applicants had to prove they were at least 65 and had lived in New Zealand for the previous 25 years, and that they were 'of good moral character' and had led a 'sober and reputable life' for at least five years. They were examined in public, in open court, by magistrates. NZHistory says magistrates had some latitude in judging the age of Māori claimants whose births had not been registered, although the Act required a Māori claimant's evidence of age to be corroborated to the magistrate's satisfaction, and Te Ara notes that Māori often received lower payments, based on assessments of their property and needs. 'Chinese or other Asiatics, whether naturalised or not' were not eligible. NZHistory calls the Act the first scheme of its kind fully funded from general taxation; the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand called it the first of its kind in any British country.","The exclusion of 'Asiatics' covered Chinese, Indian, Syrian, Singhalese and Lebanese residents and lasted until the Pensions Amendment Act 1936. Chinese were also shut out of the widow's pension of 1911 and the family allowances of 1926. Over the years, successive amendments raised the old-age pension and eased its conditions, and the pension principle was extended to widows with children in 1911, Māori war veterans in 1912, miners unable to work because of phthisis (a lung disease) in 1915 and blind people in 1924. The Liberals' old-age pensions, together with industrial arbitration and limits on the working hours of women and young workers, led some overseas observers to call New Zealand a 'social laboratory'.","The 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand called the 1898 Act 'the foundation stone of the welfare state', and Te Ara's general history says the Liberals' old age pensions 'anticipated the welfare state'. In Sir Geoffrey Palmer's account of New Zealand law, the Act had features that 'would no longer be acceptable' to modern eyes, such as the requirement to be of good moral character, but it was 'an important way point on the journey towards a welfare state'. He places the Social Security Act 1938, which extended welfare into the health system, further along that journey."],"sources":[{"title":"Old-age Pensions Act becomes law","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/old-age-pensions-act-passes-into-law","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Richard Seddon asleep during committee","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/richard-seddon-asleep-during-committee","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Richard Seddon","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/richard-seddon","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"History of New Zealand, 1769–1914","url":"https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/history-new-zealand-1769-1914","publisher":"NZHistory, Manatū Taonga"},{"title":"Seddon, Richard John","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2s11/seddon-richard-john","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Care and carers – Care of elderly people","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/care-and-carers/page-2","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Law – Legal innovation","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/law/page-9","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Family welfare – Mothers and children – 1800s to 1917","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/family-welfare/page-2","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Ethnic and religious intolerance – Intolerance towards Asians","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/ethnic-and-religious-intolerance/page-3","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"History – Liberal to Labour","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/history/page-5","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Social Security – Cash Benefits – Early Schemes (1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand)","url":"https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/social-security","publisher":"Te Ara — the Encyclopedia of New Zealand"},{"title":"Old-age Pensions Act 1898","url":"https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1898/0014/latest/whole.html","publisher":"New Zealand Legislation"}]}