WELFARE SERVICES

New Zealand has long enjoyed a widespread reputation for advanced, and even adventurous, social welfare legislation. This reputation is by no means entirely undeserved, but actual performance has been more varied than the reputation might suggest.

During the first half-century of European settlement (1840–90), a small population of British origin, an underdeveloped economy, and pioneering conditions, inevitably meant a generally low standard of living with little capital accumulation. Typical of the situation were frequent instances of severe hardship which usually affected relatively small numbers of people, considerable reliance on self-help and informal community support for those in need, and an attempt to meet the more intractable welfare problems by a reliance on the traditional British remedies of private charity and a locally administered Poor Law. The attempt to use traditional methods in a new setting failed, the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act 1885 being the last major effort in this direction. The years 1890–1960 saw the development of a very different system of welfare services.

It is a striking fact that the main parts of the present system were evolved during two brief bursts of legislative activity, the first in the closing years of the nineteenth century; the second in the period immediately prior to the Second World War. Each of these bursts of activity followed a period of unusually severe economic depression; each was the work of a government recently come to power; and each was followed by a long period of unspectacular, piecemeal, but sometimes very important, developments and adjustments. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that the welfare services established in the two main legislative periods have been concerned largely with, first, the overcoming of the consequences of poverty; second, preventing future poverty; and, third, the progressive removal of economic impediments to the general social welfare of families and individuals. It is also not surprising, though unfortunate, that the very strength and importance of these concerns should have resulted in a comparative neglect of many of the less tangible, but no less important, impediments to welfare.

History of Monetary Benefits

The Old Age Pensions Act 1898 established the basis of the present system, and was the only strictly “welfare” measure of any lasting importance in the first period of legislative activity in the nineties. It must, however, be viewed in the context of a series of measures, concerned with conditions of work and the regulation of wages, and the reform of the system of land tenure, all of which involved very directly the economic welfare of the mass of the population.

During the following 30 years the pension system was extended to include widows (1911), Maori War veterans (1912), miners (1915), and the blind (1924), while the size of the pensions was steadily increased and conditions of payment were made less stringent, though always subject to a means test. In 1926 family allowances were introduced at the rate of 2s. per week for each child in excess of two, again subject to means test. All these pensions and allowances were non-contributory.

The second great advance came with the passing of the Social Security Act 1938. This Act extended and increased the existing pensions, but it also introduced important innovations. It was intended to provide subsistence to all citizens who, in the face of economic difficulties arising from exceptional or unavoidable circumstances such as unemployment or old age, could not adequately maintain themselves or their dependants. The Act also provided the economic basis of a comprehensive health service. In principle, it was a contributory scheme, with a contribution levied on all income, but with no necessary relation between an individual's contribution and the benefits he received – the scheme therefore involved a considerable redistribution of income. The principle of the means test was abandoned with respect to superannuation benefits and medical benefits and, to emphasise the contributory nature of the scheme, the term “benefit” was substituted for the terms “pension” and “allowance”.

Although a distinction is made between “cash benefits” and “health benefits”, and although they are administered separately by the Social Security and Health Departments respectively, in fact both are entirely economic in nature. The introduction of health benefits did not include the establishment of new, or the expansion of old services, but met all or part of the cost to the user of already existing services.

Since the scheme came into operation the benefits have been steadily increased. As at 31 March 1965 cash benefits available were as follows, approximate weekly rate being given in brackets: Superannuation (£5); age, widows', invalids', and miners' (payable to sufferers from pneumo-coniosis) (£5); orphans' (2 10s. per child); family (15s. per child); sickness, and unemployment (£5). In the case of most benefits, additional sums are payable in respect of dependent wives (and in the case of widows, dependent children), while supplementary and emergency benefits may be paid in appropriate circumstances. The superannuation, family, and miners' benefits are not subject to means test. No person may receive a superannuation benefit in addition to any other cash benefit, except a family benefit, but, apart from this, all persons meeting certain residential requirements are entitled to superannuation benefit on reaching the age of 65. Age benefits (which are subject to means test) are payable usually from age 60. Benefits are financed chiefly from a charge of 1s. 6d. in the pound levied on all income. At 31 March 1965 the total number of persons (including dependent wives and children) in respect of whom social security benefits were payable, was 1,176,100, or approximately 45 per cent of the total population.

Since 1959 it has been possible, under certain circumstances, for persons in receipt of family benefit to capitalise this benefit in order to assist in the purchase of a house, to add to or alter a house, or to repay a mortgage on a house.

In 1958 the Social Security Department began the development of a Welfare Section, staffed by trained social workers, whose primary function is to provide a personal counselling and casework service to assist beneficiaries and others with personal problems over and above the economic problems which the benefits are intended to meet.

Child Welfare Services

From the early days of the colony, neglected and delinquent children have constituted a problem for the authorities, though over the years, with increasing standards of living and health, the proportion of children whose difficulties arise chiefly from economic circumstances or the death of parents has become very small. Major legislation in this field dates from the Neglected and Criminal Children Act 1867. This Act established the system of industrial schools which dominated the scene until the end of the century. These schools were residential institutions intended for the care and education of neglected children but to some degree were used also, and unsuitably, as orphanages and reformatories. They were established chiefly by the various provincial governments, but also in a few cases by voluntary organisations. The Central Government's administrative responsibilities were handled at first by the Department of Justice, but in 1880 these responsibilities were taken over by the Department of Education which initiated a more active and enlightened policy. The Industrial Schools Act 1882 permitted the boarding out of children who were in the care of such schools, and by 1895, 81 per cent of children from the schools directly controlled by the Department were in foster homes.

This emphasis on foster homes rather than institutions has remained a feature of the child welfare services to the present day and associated with it has been an encouragement of adoption, New Zealand being the first British country to make statutory provision for the adoption of children (Adoption of Children Act 1881). Steady developments in the field of child welfare found expression in the Child Welfare Act 1925, under which a special branch of the Department of Education, now known as the Child Welfare Division was established. Children's Courts were established under the same Act.

As at present constituted, the Child Welfare Division controls 29 district offices with a staff of 259 field officers, and 46 institutions providing long-and short-term care for various types of handicapped, deprived, and delinquent children. The Division's responsibilities include the guardianship of children committed by the Courts to the care of the State, the supervision of delinquent children where this is ordered by the Courts, the investigation of all complaints laid with respect to the treatment of children, reporting on all applications for adoption, the provision of casework services for parents requesting such assistance, reporting on all cases of illegitimate births, and the inspection and licensing of all institutions, foster homes, and nurseries used for the care of young children. The Division is also able to supply financial assistance to needy families with young children who do not qualify for social security benefits.

VOLUNTARY AGENCIES

From the early days of European settlement, attempts have been made to meet social welfare problems through services established by the churches or non-denominational community organisations. The Otago Benevolent Society, founded in 1862, was an early example of the latter. In spite of official encouragement and some financial assistance from the State, most of the nineteenth century attempts were failures, and New Zealand's oldest voluntary welfare organisations date usually from the early years of the twentieth century as it was only then that economic standards had risen to the point where the public could afford to support such activities from private contributions.

Traditionally the voluntary organisations have been concerned chiefly with the provision of institutions for the care of children and the aged. This has been true of the church social services as well as of more specialist organisations such as the National Foundation for the Blind and the Crippled Children Society. More recently the welfare associations operated by the various churches have shown an increasing tendency to concern themselves with the foster home placement of deprived children and a wider range of casework services. The Anglican Diocesan Social Service Council in Christchurch has been a notable leader in this field. This same trend is illustrated by the tendency of one of New Zealand's oldest voluntary agencies, the Society for the Protection of Home and Family (formerly the Society for the Protection of Women and Children, founded in 1898), to change from an emphasis on the provision of legal and financial assistance to women to the provision of counselling and casework services to families as a whole.

A striking feature of the present situation is the increasing number of organisations concerned with the maintenance and strengthening of existing families and with the provision of services for non-delinquent children and adults, covering a whole range of activities such as the education of pre-school children, family planning, assistance to intellectually and physically handicapped children and their families, the treatment and support of alcoholics and their families, marriage counselling and education for marriage. Many of these services receive subsidies, assistance in the provision of training courses, and other forms of aid from the State. They are staffed very largely by part time, often unpaid, workers.

Birthright (New Zealand) Inc.

In 1956 the first Birthright Society was formed at Hastings, and similar societies followed in other centres. Birthright advises and gives limited financial assistance to children and mothers in cases where there is no father. Birthright works closely with the State Advances Corporation and the Social Security Department, but is dependent upon the voluntary services of citizens. There are Birthright Societies in the main New Zealand centres.

Hohepa Homes and Schools

The New Zealand Trust Board for Home-Schools for Curative Education was formed on 4 May 1956 to establish suitable institutions for the curative education of intellectually handicapped persons according to principles of Rudolf Steiner. By 1965 there were three Hohepa Home-Schools – all in the Napier district – while a fourth is to be opened in Christ-church later in the year.

Intellectually Handicapped Children's Society

The Intellectually Handicapped Children's Society was formed at Wellington on 25 October 1949, when it was called the Intellectually Handicapped Children's Parents' Association. Its functions were to provide services for the care and training of the intellectually handicapped. Prior to this the only groups interested in these were the small After-Care Associations. The society soon drew the Government's attention to its work and now receives a small subsidy. It collaborates with the Department of Health and runs hostels, opportunity workshops, day-care centres, and schools where children can get special training. The society now has branches throughout New Zealand.

New Zealand Prisoners' Aid Society

There are 14 local societies in this organisation whose chief functions are visiting prisoners and providing help for their wives and families. The society maintains close cooperation with the Department of Justice, from which it receives grants; further finance is received from lotteries. By these means, together with donations, the society is able to employ four full-time officers. The work, however, is mainly voluntary and there are over 200 voluntary workers throughout the country. Future plans provide for a comprehensive scheme of assistance in the resettlement of prisoners following their release, and, in furtherance of this work, the setting up of post-release hostels.

Wellington After-Care Association, Inc.

This association, which is typical of many now functioning throughout the country, was established in 1928 to provide care for older mentally retarded children, many of whom have already passed through special classes. It is purely a voluntary organisation which provides an occupational centre and a sheltered workshop where boys and girls are trained in hand-crafts. Recreation and training in social adjustment are important features of the activities. It is financed by grants from trust funds, public donations, and various money-raising efforts.

RED CROSS SOCIETY

Under the existing Geneva Conventions, provision is made for certain services such as the succouring of the sick and wounded, the care of prisoners of war, and the supplying of medical and recreational comforts for patients in hospitals, convalescent homes, and other institutions. This responsibility is the recognised role of the Red Cross. When the First World War of 1914–18 opened, the New Zealand Red Cross movement, as we know it today, had not been formed. When, however, war began, various groups throughout the country sprang into being, anxious to play their part in meeting the needs of those of our forces who had been rendered hors de combat by the effects of hostilities. To give homogeneity to these various groups engaged in this Red Cross work, inquiries were made of the British Red Cross Society in London, with the result that under its Supplemental Charter of 1911 it granted authority to constitute a branch of its organisation in this Dominion. Vested with this power Red Cross operations were accelerated, committees being set up in territories to conform with the then four military districts, i.e., Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago, Southland being added later. Appeals in support of the work were launched to which public response was prompt and generous, and substantial sums were remitted to the British Red Cross, thereby strengthening its hands in meeting its manifold obligations on all fronts on which our forces were engaged. In February 1917 a meeting of delegates of the branch was held under the chairmanship of the Earl of Liverpool, then Governor-General of the Dominion. The principal business was to decide on a name and the adoption of a constitution and rules. In deciding on the name, “The New Zealand Branch of the British Red Cross Society”, the words “and Order of St. John” were added on the motion of the late A. E. G. Rhodes, an officer in the order. Since the Red Cross and St. John were conducting their operations in England under a joint agreement, the meeting no doubt felt that, by the addition of the words, a similar step was being effected here. Some confusion resulted, but nevertheless the conjoint efforts in the First and Second World Wars were carried through with unimpaired and effective zeal.

In July 1919 a meeting was held at Cannes sponsored by the then allied powers, Great Britain, U.S.A., France, Japan, and Italy, at which the League of Red Cross Societies was constituted. This in effect federated on an international basis the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Lion, and Sun Societies, and it is under this organisation that Red Cross activities in the respective countries are pursued. Briefly stated, these objects cover the promotion of health, prevention of disease, and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world, irrespective of class, colour, or creed.

Today the league comprises 94 National Red Cross Societies with a membership of over 180 million.

In 1931 the society in the Dominion was reconstituted and ceased to be a branch of the British Red Cross Society. Today it enjoys, in common with kindred societies, full autonomy under the title of The New Zealand Red Cross Society Incorporated. Control of the work is in the hands of a council comprising two delegates from each of the society's 38 centres, plus a representative of the Government, and of kindred organisations. A Dominion executive of up to 12 is elected at the annual meeting of the council, whose duty it is to implement the policy of the council. There are 40 centres and 304 subcentres charged with the duty of carrying out the work in the territory under their jurisdiction. The adult membership, which is always increasing, stands (1965) at 25,379. Appreciating the potential for good among our youth, the Junior Red Cross movement with its ideals of service is fostered in our primary and post-primary schools with encouraging results. There are 756 Junior Red Cross Circles having a membership of 20,156.

Training in first aid, home nursing, communal health, and hygiene is conducted for young and old. Trainees when qualified are organised into detachments ready for service in epidemic, earthquake, flood, fire, tornado, or any other national or international emergency which might arise. But for those members who do not wish to undertake this type of training, there are many Red Cross activities which require only the interest and enthusiasm of the volunteer.

The society's objective is to bring succour to stricken humanity, thereby promoting understanding, goodwill, and peace among the people of all nations.

OUTMODED ORGANISATION

Unlike the longer established communities of Europe and North America, New Zealand has developed, usually for practical rather than theoretical reasons, a system of social services which is basically State controlled. Only recently, and in the face of varied difficulties, have voluntary organisations begun to play an extensive and really significant part in the total structure of the welfare services. As pointed out above, the services available have been very largely economic in character, or have been mainly concerned, in the case of services for children, in providing a more suitable environment for neglected, deprived, and delinquent children. Only very recently have the personal, emotional, and other intangible aspects of the problems received much attention, from either the statutory or voluntary services. This development relies upon a body of trained, specialist staff, the lack of which has proved a considerable handicap. Victoria University of Wellington established a professional training course for social workers at the School of Social Science in 1950, but the number of trained workers still falls far short of requirements, while there is a serious lack of specialists in many associated fields, such as clinical psychology, child psychiatry, and play therapy. Most of the available services, therefore, function at well below optimum standards. The recent development, by which training facilities are provided for marriage counsellors under the auspices of the Department of Justice, is an encouraging innovation but does not meet the need for specialists of fully professional status within the social services generally. For instance, greatly increased sums of money have been made available from both State and private sources during recent years for the care of the aged, and voluntary bodies have been encouraged even to the extent of having the whole cost of erecting their institutions met by the State. As a result of such measures, problems of accommodation and physical care of the aged have been greatly eased in most districts, but it is unusual for organisations operating even extensive services for the aged to employ trained social workers or other specialist staff. Rehabilitation services for the aged are almost completely lacking, and, in strange contrast to the liberal assistance given for the provision of physical care and accommodation, very little help or encouragement is given towards employing or training specialist staff concerned with the personal and social problems of old people.

The somewhat piecemeal and haphazard way in which the State services have developed, together with the structure of the Public Service which administers them, has led to another set of complications. The State welfare services are fragmented into a large number of relatively small units whose functions are determined more by the traditional interests of Public Service Departments and by historical accident, than by the present-day nature of the problems to be solved. The result is that many people needing assistance for individual or family problems are able to obtain the necessary services only by approaching two or more Departments. Thus the Education and Health Departments are each partially responsible for services for physically and mentally handicapped children, while Social Security and Health Departments both provide services for the aged. Until the passing of the State Services Act of 1962, Public Service rules and practices made it almost impossible for the various services to be examined as a whole, or coordinated in any but the most superficial fashion, and no reorganisation or reform of the total system could originate at any level below that of Cabinet. Research into the overall functioning and effectiveness of the social welfare services was virtually impossible from within the Public Service. Although such reviews and reorganisation are now legally possible, it is probable that the necessary administrative arrangements could be made at this stage only with considerable difficulty.

The absence of opportunity for a general overview, together with the largely economic nature of the welfare services, has inevitably provided a temptation, which has not always been successfully resisted, for politicians to devise changes in the services with an eye to electoral advantage rather than the most effective development of the system. On the whole, New Zealand's welfare services are an odd mixture of planning and chaos, of economic generosity and restriction on skill, of rapid advances in some fields, and inadequate development in others. The concept of the welfare State is so deeply ingrained in the New Zealand culture that one cannot imagine its being given up; indeed, all political parties are committed to maintaining it. The proportion of the national income that the community is prepared to devote to welfare is impressive. The main lack lies in the failure to attempt any kind of comprehensive plan to ensure that the resources available are used with the utmost efficiency and flexibility. The potentially adventurous developments are severely restricted by long outmoded forms of organisation and administration.

by James Harding Robb, M.A.(N.Z.), B.SC.ECON., PH.D.(LOND.), Associate Professor, School of Social Science, Victoria University of Wellington.

• The Welfare State in New Zealand, Condliffe, J. B. (1959)
• Welfare in New Zealand Scott, K. J. (ed.), (1955)
• The Decentralisation of Government Administration in New Zealand, Roberts J. L. (ed.), 1961
• Poverty and Progress in New Zealand, Sutch, W. B. (1941)
• The New Dominion – a social and political history of New Zealand, 1918 to 1939, Burdon, R. M. (1965).