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National Geographic : 1902 Sep
Contents
PROBLEMS OF THE PACIFIC who want work. Their wives and children are taken with them, because New Zealand people do not believe in separating a man from his family. The man, with his wife and children, are placed upon railroad trains, for the journey is a long one, given lodgings at night, and cared for until they come to the scene of their labors. There they find a government officer in charge of tents of shelter. They are given in structions to work and tools to work with and land of their own to settle upon. Some who take up land do not know how to farm and have no funds. They are given the land, tools to work it, seeds and teams to plant the land, and are given instructions as rapidly as pos sible, taught to fell the forest trees and raise the crops, and the government ad vances them money. We say they are given this and that, but they are given nothing. They have to pay for the land, and so well and surely is the scheme managed that they do pay. Their time is divided off, half for them selves and half for the government. There are many other interesting things to tell you about, but we will pause only for a moment by the side of Magistrate A-, who asked me to sit by him to see him administer this new act of mercy and justice, the old-age pension law. It is unnecessary for one to be a pau per to become a pensioner. One may have an income of thirty-four pounds a year and still receive a pension, or he may have eighteen pounds a year and still receive a full pension. No, New Zealand is not encouraging the people to become paupers. There are many things to prevent. One may have com mitted a serious crime or one may be an habitual drinker, and, if so, he cannot get a pension. It is an international sight to see put into political effect the precepts of Christianity. We look upon the old men and women as they come to be asked questions, and they all kiss the Bible (which is a most unsanitary pro ceeding, apt to reduce the number of pensioners). Each one must answer as to whether he or she has ever been in prison. One old lady among the appli cants had a face so refined and pure the judge could not bear to ask her such a question as that. He looked at her with the utmost benignity as he said, " Now, have you ever been in any trouble ? " The dear old lady said, " Why, yes ; I was alone in the house once for six weeks." She had not understood him at all, and so he had to repeat the ques tion in the plain language of the law. Another thing-they must answer the question which comes in the insurance policies-their age. And there were a few women, and they all told their age-sixty-five years. New Zealand is the only part of the world where I ever saw a woman of a certain age willing to tell her birth-year. There was a widow who had recently married, and she had given her age as younger than she was, and this year she had given another age in order to get the pension. " I am exceedingly sorry,"' said the judge, " but you can't give one age to get married and another to get a pension." There was one very forlorn-looking woman, so old that all her friends had died ; every trace of her birth had dis appeared, the Bible was gone, her mar riage certificate even lost. Then the judge said in the kindliest way, waiving the question of other evidence, " No matter; you look it," and as she heard the words a smile of intense gratification spread over her face. The New Zealand people say there is nothing which has given them greater satisfaction than the old-age pension law, and you will perhaps understand their satisfaction when I quote this sen tence from an official report : " Owing 351
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