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David Lloyd-

George, with his

wife and daughter

Megan. In 1908,
he had become

Chancellor of the
Exchequer in
Asgquith’s Govern-
ment of which

the once militant
trade unionist
and socialist

John Burns was
also a member,
as President of
the Local Govern-
ment Board. It
was Lloyd George
rather than
Burns, who
piloted through
the Liberal
Government's

Olid Age Pensions
Act, a rather
mean and watered-
down version of
the kind of.
Pensions Bill for
which the T.U.C.
had long been
lobbying.

Opinion inside the Labour Movement was sharply
divided.about the desirability of the National
Insurance Bill. The Parliamentary Committee of the
T.U.C. on the whole approved it. - But trade
unionists were divided about it, and maity socialists
deplored the contributory basis of the scheme which,
they insisted, ought to be financed by taxation.

In April, 1911, the T.U.C. formed, together with
representatives of the General Federation of Trade
Unions, a sub-committee to nominate men for the
provisional insurance committees. This was another
early instance of the T.U.C. moving into the field of
participation in the administration of government.

The Act, which
came into force
on January Ist
1909, applied to
people “who are
70 years of age,
and whose income
does not exceed
-£31 10 0 per
annum, The
amount of the
pension varies
from 3{- a week
Jor persons with
Incomes not
exceeding £21,
down ta Il. a
week”.