§ MR. HOWARD (Middlesex, Tottenham)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury—(1) whether the Government propose to appoint a Committee to consider the question of Old Age Pensions; and, (2) if so, whether they will refer to such Committee Mr. William Stokes Cottew's Scheme for an "Old Age Pension Fund and Government State Bank," which has been lately submitted to them?
§ *THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonThe only answer I can give to the first paragraph of the Question is that the Government have the matter under consideration. Any Committee would, I think, be impressed by the originality of Mr. Cottew's scheme. The batches of printed copies with which the author has kindly provided me show that the copyright of the scheme alone would cost the Government £20,000. Its purchase would enable them to create a president of the proposed bank, who must have a seat in Parliament (apparently for life) and a salary of £5,000 for the first five years and £3,000 afterwards, to be followed by a pension of £800 a year on reaching 65. As the first president is to be the originator himself, it seems a little invidious to read in the next paragraph that the salary of his successors must never exceed £2,500.