8.—4.

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION FUND; TEACHERS' SUPERANNUATION FUND; RAILWAYS SUPERANNUATION FUND. 168. Owing to the limited time at our disposal we have not been able to go into the very complicated question of superannuation to retired officers of the Public Service. We propose to deal with this subject at an early date, and will embody our findings in our final report.

VOTE, LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT. 169. The following is a comparative review of the cost of the Legislative Department, as revealed by the annual appropriations for the years 1914-15 and 1931-32. The summary sets out salaries and wages for each of the two years referred to shown separately from other charges.

170. It will be observed (item 9) that the total appropriation for 1931-32 exceeded that for 1914-15 by £54,920. The greateat increase is shown tinder the heading " General Expenses " (item 7), where the appropriation for 1931-32 exceeds that of 1914-15 by £46,660. 171. It should be explained that in 1914-15 certain items of expenditure were not provided under the Legislative vote, such as printing of statutes, £10,000; railway passes, sleepers, and lounge seats to members and wives, £27,075 ; and refund to Post Office on members' telegrams, £1,200. 172. Also the Law Drafting Office was not then a section of the Legislative Department, as the work was carried out by a branch of the Solicitor-General's Office. 173. These four items, for which no provision was made in the Legislative vote for 1914-15, total £41,375, and if this is deducted from the excess of £54,920 mentioned above, there is still an excess of £13,545 over 1914-15. 174. The vote comprises seven subdivisions, and the item " Salaries " appears in each. 175. The increase in salaries and wages of permanent, temporary, and sessional staff over 1914-15 totals £14,080. A part of this increase, £2,507, represents salaries for the Law Drafting Office, which brings the increase over 1914-15 down to £11,573, and some allowance must also be made for the increase in salaries under the heading "General Expenses" occasioned through additional cleaning and outside staff necessary in consequence of the larger buildings and grounds now in use. However, after taking these factors into consideration, we find that the salary burden, particularly under the headings " House of Representatives " and " Bellamy's," has increased to a greater degree than has been justified. The opinion was expressed by the Economy Committee in 1921-22, and endorsed by the Economy Committee in 1931, that both Houses are extravagantly staffed, and that the staffing arrangements would be made more efficient and could be put on a less costly basis if placed under similar control to the rest of the Public Service as regards appointments and emoluments. We endorse these views, and recommend that the appointment and control of staff be placed under the Public Service Commissioner, while for duty and discipline during sittings of Parliament, they would remain under present control. 176. From the evidence we have taken we consider that undoubted economies should result. We would place the economies in salaries on a conservative basis at £6,000.

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1931-32. 1914-15. Salaries. | Total. Salaries. c ™J e r s _ Total. ££££££ 1. Legislative Council .. 2,143 460 2,603 .. .. 1,800* 2. House of Kepresentatives.. 12,458 1,020 13,478 9,233 1,100 10,333 3. Law Drafting Office .. 2,507 593 3,100 4. General Assembly Library 3,036 1,600 4,636 2,695 1,150 3,845 5. Hansard .. .. 5,695 6,200 11,895 6,040 5,000 11,040 6. Bellamy's .. .. 6,463 1,487 7,950 1,627 1,850 3,4-77 7. General expenses.. .. 4,124 52,798 56,922 2,652 7,610 10,262 36,426 64,158 100,584 8. Less credits .. 99 4,808 4,907 9 Totals .. .. .. 36,327 59,350 95,677 22,247 16,710 40,757 * Salaries and other charges not allocated.