THE COUNCIL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1557, 28 September 1912, Page 6

THE COUNCIL.

PUBLIC SERVICE BILL;

The Legislative Council met at 2.30 yesterday .afternoon. ■ The Public Service Bill was received trom the .House of Representatives, and was read a first time. Tho 6econd reading was made an order of the day for Tuesday.- . ._ ■ . • ; A message, was also received from the House agreeing to'the amendments made by -the Council in the Mokau Harbour Hoard Empowering Bill.

NEW PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS. ■The Hon. H.'iD. BELL intimated that the plans of the; new Parliament Buildings would be displayed in Committee■•oom S on Saturday 'morning, and would remain there until Wednesday next"' •tor inspection by members. LOCAL AUTHORITIES' SUPERAN- • . NUATION. JENKINSON continued the adjourned debate on'.the second reading or the,' Local Authorities' Superannuatioix. Amendment "13ill. •• llr. Jenkinson urged that, the whole principle of super■anmiation should bo reconsidered by the Government with, a view to putting it .on a better and more definite footing. A very objectionable feature of the present Bill, to his mind, was . that upon an, employee electing to retiro he , could only claim the money he had paid in, less interest, whereas under v tiic Public' Service superannuation Act tho contributor could Blect. to withdraw and take -his' money with him with compound interest. This appeared to be a blot on'the present Bill. Mr. Jenkinson , suggested'that instead of providing foi' further schemes on the present lines, local authorities should bo given power to contribute so much of their funds towards increasing the .allo.wanco a man could at present get utjder the National.Provident .Fund.' So far, we had 'not made iiearly enough of tlie National.Provident Fund, and its benefits should bo moro widely known. The Government should alter the present scheme, and base the retiring allowance 0n...th0 average salary rather than as was done, on the last three years' snlary. He coyld not understand why one mail should;Vget dottblo' or treblo the retiring allowance of' another. To him !t seemed unjust. The lowpr-paid-man paid all the time ;for the higher allowances. Mr. Jenkinson said, members of the railways had represented' to. liim the difficulty they, had in giving security-to enable them td-borrow. .money .with which to buy a home, and . to'remedy this, he outlined a soheme under iwhich he urged that a contributor lo' a superannuation fund should be allowed to borrow tho money he had paid into,'tho superannuation fund at.any tiipe after he had paid : in a cfcrtain number of years.. The Hon. H. D. Bell: Where is the security? . ' Mr. Jenkinson:.The security is tho position he holds." ' ' Tho Hon. Mr. Bell: What is tHo benefit of providing a superannuation fund if it ■can be spent? A Universal Scheme Suggested. Tho Hon. J. BARR'said he agreed with an objection made by Mr. Jenkinson to any money being paid out of the public fundsjn pensions to'which the individual ■receiving had paid no contribution. .This was really the principle-contained in the Bill. Mr. Barr urged that tho Government should tnko tho scheme up and try and make it a universal scheme, so that all and sundry could come in under it. Ho was surprised at the present' Govern. msnt taking up this Bill. Tha Hon. H. D. Bell: You don't understand it- ■ The Hon. J.-Barr: I bog pardon—probably I don't. There are a lot of things wo don't understand. Mr. Barr urged that there should not bo such big sums paid out for superannuation as was done f,t present. Ho thought there should bo & maximum amount, over which no retiring official should receive. He considered .£200 : or at most ,£3OO would bo a high enough maximum. Tho Hon. .T. RIGG approved tho principlo of tho Bill, and the Hons. C. H. Mills and R. A. Loughnnn also spoke. Tho Hon. H. D. BELL sai,d the position

was that tho Act of 1908 established power with local. authorities to' create a superannuation fund. Section 16 of that Act was replaced by Section 3 of the present Bui, with only formal amendment. The present Bill did not propose any - new power other than was anticipated by the Act of 1908. Mr. Bell proceeded to explain that 'a person under tho Public Service Superannuation was entitled on retirement to either his annual allowance or the money he had paid in. If he chose the 'latter, he got that money and no interest.- If after twenty years' service, however, he was compulsorily retired, he was allowed to take his money, with simple interest. As to Mr. Jenlcinson's suggestion in regard to lending to contributors, Mr. Bell ■ said the whole object .of superannuation was to make provision for the men at retirement,. arid, if 'a man died in tho public service, to make the provision contained in tho statute for-his widow and children. Ho was opposed to Mr. Jenkinson's suggestion. In Committee He could not accept any : such amendments as had been suggested. - ■ s The, second reading was agreed to.

LAND AND INCOME ASSESSMENT. The Land and .Income Assessment Amendment Bill was put through its Committee stage, and was subsequently lead a third time and passed.' The Council rose at 5 p.m.