Men Too Young At 65

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30469, 17 June 1964, Page 17

Men Too Young At 65

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SYDNEY, June 16.

Two authorities have strong views about retiring ages. The Nobel prize-winner, Sir John Eccles, said that why men should be forced to retire at 65 had- never been satisfactorily explained.

Sir John Eccles, who is 61, said the retiring age of 65 was a purely arbitrary figure “plucked out of the air” by the nine-

Chancellor, Bismarck, When forming the German public service. Other nations had. merely adopted this as their retiring age. Sir John Eccles said people should have the option of continuing to work at lower wages after reaching the retiring age. They would benefit and so would the nation.

Criticising the retiring age of 60 for women, be

quoted statistics showing that the average Australian woman at this age still had another 15.6 years to live, compared with only 9.5 years for men.

“When a man is 60 and six years nearer death' than a woman he is given another five years to work, while the woman is pensioned off,” he said.

The second blast against the retiring age came from Brigadier G. P. Meredith, who argued that the minimum retiring age for the armed services should be 60. ' Commenting on discontent In the armed services, Brigadier Meredith said he would not recommend a service career to young men while they faced the prospect of being thrown on the economic scrap-heap “in the prime of their lives.” Brigadier Meredith, a

SIR JOHN ECCLES retired professional soldier, said that a major must retire at 47 and other army officers not later than 55.