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Mr. A. V. Moore'si
Reply
Replyilngto-day, at the invitation ?'
of the Penny Post, to the statements
made. by ,r. Taylor hlst night, the
District Inspector of the National In-*
surance Commission, Mr. A. V..
Moore; said to-day that they served".
:to indicate the hollowness of the
arguments: used by the Douglas
Cr.iitl olponents of ihŽ National In
u r nilcb sche nl e.
Ir."Triylor," said Mr. Moore,
shoi?etd :a.. lack of understanding of
it dletails of the Act and complete
'gno?rance of the economic principles
?ion whllich the scheme is based. Hav-.,
lng attacked the scheme in the first -
place .because of the alleged In
adequacy of tile benefits provided, he
argued'. that the present scheme
'ould :impose too heavy a financial
burdeti upon the community. Askled
howhl would finance thle expanded'
scheme which he suggested, he was
unable to make any submission other
than the extension of credits through
channels which he was unablle clear
ly to dcefin."'
-Mr. Moore took several of the
speakler's staltements and replied to
them tcalegorically.
Mr.rTaylor had said that National
Insuraince contributions represented
withldrawals from purchasing power.
This was not the case since all the
funds of tihe National Insurance Com
mission would be invested and would
be distributed as purchasing power.
The only effect of the scheme in this
regard would be to divert purchasling
I power away from luxury goods, the
greater portion of which would be
importedt, to necessities produced its
SiAustralia. Thile net effect would be to
increase employment in Australia.
BRITISH SCIHEME.
I'r. Taylor said that thle Common
wealth Act did not providte unemploy
ment insurance as the British scheme
dtid. Hei was apparently unaware that
the British scheme dlid not ait its
inception providte unemployment in
surance andt that in fact unemploy
ment insurance itt Great Britain did
not make its appearance until thir
teen years after tile introduction of
the original Act in 1911. Thle original
Act ilt Great Britain provided for.
health insurance only--not even pen
sions. '
NATIONAL INSURANCE
The suggestion that the scheme
was "imposedt on Australia by tlhe
Bank of England" and brought here
by the English expert, Sir Walter
Kinnear,.lost any authenticity when
it was realised that as long ago as
1910 it had been the subject of a.
memorandum. to tIhe Government by
-"ti" theri Commonttwealth Statistician;
Sir George Knibbs, that it had been,
the subject of examination by a
Royal Commission over a pieriod of
four years from 1923 to 1927, andt
that following a recommendtation by
Sthile Commission a Bill was introduced
-as long ago as 1928, in the
HIouse of Representatives, to provide
a system of National Insurance for
Australia.
National Insurance was clearly no
new principle so far as Australia
was concernetd, nor was the Austra
lian public ignorant of it, or its ad
vantages.
There was no foundtation far the:
allegltion that thile scheme was de
.'signted to provide funds for reinvest
Sment by thle Government rather than
for insurance benefits for the people.
On thile contrary, the fundts of the
contmission for l distribution as bene
fits would be subsidisedl by the Com
umonwealth.
SICI(KNESS BENEFIT
Mr. Taylor hadl mladte the point
that sickness ,benefit wouldt hot be
iprovidetd until thle fifth ,day of siclk
ness. There were sound reasons for
tIhts. provisiotn. Many itndustrial
awartds provitldedt for sick pay during
the early period of illness. National
Insurance benefits woult be available
before, these ceasedt. On the other
hand ithe nieedt fort' tihe benefit in
creased with thile duration of tile
sickness.
A surprising ignorance of Sectiont
62 of the Act was dlisplayetl by Mr.
Taylorr, said Mr. Moore. This section
trovildedt that if sickness continued
Ibeyotnd 20 weeks, thle insured person
would be entitledl to dtisablement
benefit during incapacity, or until
pension age, wl'hn the sum npayable
woult Id be intcreaseld.
"llr'. Taylor," tltadded MrI. Moore,
"appeared to think that at thle end
of 20 weeks of illness, the scheme
simply aibatndoned the sick man to
his falte, an extrltorltinary misconcep
tion which surely is sharedt by ino
memniber of tile general public."
The speaketr hadl completely ig
tored the fact, Mr. Moore wetnt on,
that thile scheme provided for tile
widtow, detpenldent chithren and or
phatns; that it extendedl medical facil
Ities wihere these were not now avtail
able; that it tdenantdedl no means
test or medical examinatition. IHe
stated that no section of the com
muntity was opiposed to thie principle
of national insurance, hbut he com
pltely failedl to offer a workable
ailternative to thile present scheme, or
iny scheme for financing it that was
not utterly fantastic.
Thile increace in thile strength of
tite Australiain militia for the f9irt-'
night etlndedt January 13, was 3049.
The total strength is niow 40,315, an
increase of 11,079 sintce the recruit'.
ing calltifaign .began at the ,~nd of
S cptetle be'r. " '" .
The Minister for Defence, Brig
tadler Street, cild yestertday that the
dpuartlre of Air Vice:rMarshatll Wil
lianms to the I.A.F. in Britain marrk
eul the beginnitng of a policy of send-t
ing Australian senior Air Force
-ntd Army officers abroad to gaill
s rhorit c c!,
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