Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 15 Gorffennaf 1925.
I venture to address myself to the argument that the Parliamentary Secretary has just brought forward in defence of the attitude of the Government on this Clause. Generally, what is the position? The Government in one or two points have already selected incomes which are secured to people who normally and who, were they not excepted specifically under this Bill, would be beneficiaries under the Pensions Act. Last night they excepted ex-service men and dependants of a certain category who, but for the Clause, would come within the scope of the Bill. This Clause affects another lot of people, the children on whose behalf payments are made under the amended Workmen's Compensation Act. If this were a Bill which plainly stated, "We are going to impose an income limit test," that would be a perfectly understandable position, because the income would be there, and the income being there, the charges under the Bill would be reduced. But why is this particular thing selected? Children, orphans, receive many increments to their income, small increments, no doubt, but still increments. If these increments are being given, not specified in this Bill, children receive them and their benefits under this Bill. There is neither rhyme nor reason for the Government's proposal. It is unfair, and especially unfair to select something which has been granted to children on the merits of the case.
That is a general argument. Let us take the specific argument. The Parliamentary Secretary goes on to reflect upon the fact that this special benefit is given to the children under the Workmen's Compensation Act, and, having been given, the Government decide that the State has done its duty to the children, and only in so far as what has already been done comes short of what would be done here, are they to receive any benefit under this Bill. What does that mean? I found myself, the first time I addressed the House in Committee on this Bill, denying that it was an Insurance Bill. That is quite sound, if you use the word "insurance" with any accuracy. When the Government wants to say that this is an Insurance Bill, it says so. It says that you must pay a contribution, accept your share of risk and your share of the benefits. When, however, it wants to say that this is a charity organisation, it says, "It is not insurance at all." Let us look at the argument. Who pays for the Workmen's Compensation benefit? Not the State, not at all. I will take the legal aspect, not the economic aspect. Who pays for the Workmen's Compensa- tion benefit to the children? The employer. It is his responsibility. [HON. MEMBERS: "No!"] If I expatiated at length on that subject, I could go on for an hour. Let us try a short way home. Who pays for this benefit? It is the employer. The employer also insures the child under this Bill.
Therefore, if the employer, because he is responsible under the Workmen's Compensation Act, finds that his contribution in respect of the children under this Bill is of no use, is not the Government going to relieve the employer of his contribution in respect of these children? Obviously it must. The Government cannot go away and say that it will differentiate in the way that it is proposed. That is not insurance; it is sheer tomfoolery. If there is anything sound and real and substantial in the Parliamentary Secretary's argument, he must assure the Committee that all this was considered, that in deducting these benefits because the employers have provided equivalents in other ways, the employers' contribution has been assessed accordingly. Otherwise he is proceeding on no insurance basis at all when he is assessing the employers' liability. I have been dealing with the narrower point about workmen's compensation. If the workmen's compensation obligation is to be excused the burdens under this Bill, then those who provide for that compensation ought to be excused for the payment.
Here is another aspect. The Parliamentary Secretary said that in dealing with health, when the National Health Insurance Bill was before the House, it was specifically provided that the two benefits should not run side by side— workmen's compensation and national health insurance. Why did he not give us a little more information as to this? He was scanty in his information. The National Health Insurance Act, 1924, Section 16, not only refers to workmen's compensation, but also refers to employers' liability. It also refers to decisions given at Common Law. The reason is obvious. It has nothing to do with the point that the Parliamentary Secretary tried to make to-day. I remember the Debate on the Health Insurance Bill. What was the argument? It was a perfectly sound argument. The National Health Insurance Act was an insurance against ill-health. If a man has his hand chopped off by using a machine in the course of his work, ho is not suffering from ill-health; he has been injured. His case comes under workmen's compensation and employers' liability. Therefore, the insurance was based on the statistics of the experience, not of workmen's compensation cases plus ill-health, but of ill-health cases. The whole thing was kept out of the insurance; the contingency was never contemplated.
If a man sues under the Workmen's Compensation Act or the Employers' Liability Act, or any of the accident Acts, and gets his case, then he is not suffering from ill-health, and his premium payment under this Bill does not cover his case. Suppose, however, that he is suffering from a disease under one of the industrial compensation Acts. Suppose that he has consumption, and it has been decided that he has not contracted consumption under conditions which would enable him to be a beneficiary under any industrial Act. Then he is insured under the Health Insurance Act, and he gets his benefit. That is the statement of a layman, and not of a legal expert. The experience of the National Health Insurance Act has absolutely nothing to do with the provisions made in Clause 25 of this Bill, and it cannot be cited as a justification for the decision of the Government.
Take another point. Is this insurance or not? I come back to that. If it is insurance, the realisation of the risk that has been insured against is private property. You cannot get over that. The Government has no business to say that when a child becomes an orphan, and ordinarily is a beneficiary under this Bill, still, before it enjoys its income, we have to decide how it is to be disposed of. In the most stupid and nonsensical form of Socialism as described by hon. Members, opposite so often, that might have a justification. That is justified only by those whose acquaintance with the constructive theory of Socialism is confined to a two-page leaflet issued by the National Conservative Association. Everybody who has given hours or months or years to the study of the theory knows that that pamphlet is sheer rot, but there it is. What is the case here? There is an insurance against risk. The risk eventuates; the property at once becomes effective, but the Government say "No," not unless we desire it to be so. After we have compelled you to be insured, after we have forced your father to contribute and your father's employers to contribute—even then we are going to decide that we will not give you this benefit. It really will not do, and this Amendment moved by my hon. Friend, who has probably more experience than any hundred Members of this Committee of these industrial questions, should be accepted by the Government and by the Committee.