CLERICAL PENSION FUND.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 245, 15 October 1926, Page 5

CLERICAL PENSION FUND.

LOSS OF OVER £8000. RETIRED CLERGYMEN SUFFER AX EXTRAORDINARY STORY. A matter which will probably occupy , some time in the considerations of the] 1 Anglican Synod, now sitting in Auck-; land, is that relative to the affairs of the Clerical Pension Fund, which during late years has shown a heavy debit on i investments. ! The report to be presented to Synod will show that although £7000 "was advanced on mortgage on a property at Maungatawhiri, that property had to be sold by the mortgagees for a little over £3000. Another bad investment was the advancement of £1500 on mortgage in connection with a Crown lease. As in the other case, the interest was not paid, and the mortgagees assumed possession. In the opinion of the real estate market the investment was worthless, for no buyer could be found, and the lease had to be forfeited to the Crown. An even worse " investment" was that made in March last, when Mr. Hassell Garland was handed a cheque for £5000 by the then secretary of the Clerical Pension Fund (Mr. G. A. Thompson) for the purchase of Onehunga local body debentures. All that was obtained for this cheque was a receipt from Mr. Garland. The debentures never came forward, although there exists the extraordinary fact that they are shown in the audited balance-sheet of the Clerical Pension Board as being part of the Board's assets. The Hassell Garland estate, according to the estimate of the official assignee, will pay a dividend of 7/ in the £. That will mean a return of £1750 for the £5000 referred to. The pity of the thing is that the loss of over £8000 referred to in the three investments mentioned comes out of the superannuation fund for retired Anglican clergymen, whose pensions range from £50 to £100 a year, and who had been hoping that by judicious invest- I ment their sustenance would be increased. ' At yesterday's meeting of the Synod | it was decided not to discuss the matter in open meeting, and, on the motion of Mr. Roberton, a committee was set up to inquire into and report on " the loss of an investment made by the Pension Boa rd."