The first payments under the Old-age Pensions Act were made yesterday at the post-offices in England, Wales and Ireland, and will be made to-day in Scotland, where New Year╒s Day is a public holiday. Probably about half a million needy old people were made glad yesterday by the first instalment of an allowance which will be continued to them for the rest of their lives, and it is not surprising to read that many of the recipients expressed heartfelt thanks to the willing instruments of the State╒s bounty ╤ the post-office clerks who handed them their money. The clerks, by the way, seem everywhere to have acted with tact and kindness, and to have taken great trouble to make the necessary routine as easy as possible to the old people, very many of whom were infirm, deaf, nearly blind, and otherwise afflicted in body as well as estate. The chief difficulty at the post-offices was the handing in of ╥cheques╙ by those who were unable to write and who had no witnesses to identify them. In nearly every case, however, this difficulty was overcome in the course of half-an-hour or so.
The majority of the pensioners were women; in some districts the disproportion between the sexes was very marked indeed. Another point about the pensions was the comparatively insignificant number less than the full five shillings. It may be noted that the Birmingham Guardians have decided on a step which will greatly mitigate one of the chief hardships under the Act ╤ the debarring of people who have received Poor Law relief from receiving pensions. They have decided to increase to five shillings the amount of out-relief now paid to persons over 70 years of age.
