SUPERANNUATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 973, 14 November 1910, Page 5

SUPERANNUATION.

- —-— 4— —- ;"•,'■ IMPORTANT CHANGES OUTLINED. .". V A ; .£300 ANNUAL LIMIT. ; • ■It. is provided in tho Public Service Classification and Superannuation Amendment Bill that in the case of every person who becomes a contributor to the fund after the commencement of the Act and who thereafter retired from the service under such circumstances that he is entitled,to an annual retiring allowance from the fund, his retiring allowance shall be computed as follows:—For every year, of service such' contributor shall receive ' one-eightieth part of his animal, salary, and for every fraction of a year of service that contributor shall receive a proportionate part of one-eightieth of that.salary, but in-no case shall the retiring allowance exceed one-half of such salary or . the sum of three hundred pounds, whichever sum is tho lesser. Contributions may be continued not only when the salary of . a contributor is. for a periods temporarily stopped on the ground of ill-health, but also "for any other reason" and for any period that a contributor is on leave' at a reduced salary as well as in the caso of absence without salary. If a contributor dies while still 1 in the Public Service and leaves'a wife surviving him, tho same amount of compensation shall be payable out of the Consolidated Fund to his personal representatives as would have.been payable to hira if ho had retired compnlsorily from ,tho Public Service immediately before his 'death, and no'moneys-shall be payable out of the fund except the amount of his contributions.

■'•'■ When any place'or office in the public service is declared to cease to bo subject to the Act, any of the officials who are contributors may, within 12 months, elect, with the consent of the board, to cease to be a contributor, and, he. shall be entitled to receive a refund of his contributions' less any sums already received by him. . That portion.. of the Civil Service Insurance Act,. 1893, relating to compensation for loss of offico .shall not be deemed to have any, applica-tion-to any'person who is a contributor to the Public Servico Superannuation Fund or tho Teachers'; Superannuation Fund. ' ' In-the case: of teachers, the computa- • tionof retiring allowance in the case of future contributors is to be on the same basis as for new Public Servico Fund contributors. The education service is to include university .professors. . Persons now in office as university professors may elect : to become contributors within,.l2 -months. .The right of election to,become contributors to the. Teachers' Fund is to be revived, the last day being fixed at July 1, 1911. <.-In. regard to the,Govern-mentrailways-superanmiation-scheme,-the - retiring allowance in the . case .of future contributors is fixed the.same as in.the •case of teachers and contributors to the Public Service Fund. . : In a brief- explanation of the measure tho,Prime Minister-said that among other alterations tho'Bill'proposed to limit all future • entrants to . the Public 'Service, Post and-Tekgraph, Railways, and Teachers' Superannuation Funds, to a superannuation not exceeding .-8300 a year. (Hear, hear.) The Bill did not interfere with the benefits of those who were at present contributing, to: any ; superannuation echerac. .It also provided for-the admission, under certain conditions, of the university professors. ' Mr.' Jas.' Allen (Bruce): Are the university staffs included?

. The Prime Minister said the staffs were not included.'. Alterations' in the"fundß, he added, and variations in the -benefits were'being constantly urged on the Government, but he was not going to agree to amendments being- made from year to y 6 "-. All sorts and conditions of people Who thought they were not getting enough were asking to come in under tho superannuation schemes, but the funds would Bot stand the inclusion of all those who desired to oonio under them, without/ an alteration ofithe rates,, and he was'not* prepared to make any alteration in this direction. .-..-.

j;-Mr. Allan said, he was glad . the • Bill - had come down, but ho was sorry the Prime -Minister. could not inolude the university, staffs. ,\He quoted the case of the late janitor of Otago University, who had spent the best part of his life in the position at a comparatively small salarv. J.he university could do nothing to. meet such a case,.and'he thought such a man should come under the scheme.-. The Primo Minister said the only difficulty he had had in the matter had ■beon as to, deciding whether tho professors should -be included. However, they were included. The allowance to them was to be computed at the rate of one-hundred and sixtieth part of tho annual salary for.each complete year of K FTi -v l * M .*V A Hen's suggestion was adopted it would mean that medical men wno were engaged as lecturers at the universities would como into tho scheme. He would have been glad to include cases Bnch asthe one mentioned, but he could npt do.so.

Mr. Allen said he was not referring to people partly employed by a university, but lo those whose whole life was givon to the university. M r il T \ B ' T a ' Ylor (Christohurch. North) said he hoped the Bill was not going to ignore the reasonable obligation to such men a S] public librarians, who were men who did not draw large salaries, and had not been able to come into the superannuation scheme up to the present. He took strong exception to men of large salaries being admitted when thousands of people receiving over .£2OO a year could not even get the advantages of the: National Provident Fund Bill. Mr. Taylor said ho dreaded tho future of some of the superannuation schemes. Ho had a growing feeling that in tho future they might' havo to inflict on a number of Civil Servants a/great disappointment if they were not; vary, careful, with the. schemes. Jt was absurd, ho said, to go on conferring promissory notes by way of statute. Ho was" anxious that the country should never be laid, open to a charge that they lad repudiated any liability in this connection. Why, he asked in conclusion, should the Bill be brought down at this etago of the session? Further;debate was interrupted by Mr. Heri'ies, who raised a point of order that the House had met to consider local Bills, and local Bills only. If they were going to debate Governor's Messnires, they Vould be there until G p.m. (Hear, hear!) Tho Bill was read a first time.