SUPERANNUATION BILL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 267, 10 November 1932, Page 8

SUPERANNUATION BILL.

CASE FOR RAiLWAYMEN.

SECRETARY'S EVIDENCE. PROPOSALS TO COMMITTEE. Strong protests against the Government Superannuation Funds Bill, which embodies the proposals of the National Expenditure Commission in connection with civil servants' superannuation, were made by the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants yesterday to the Select Committee of the House of Representatives which is hearing evidence from interested parties 011 the provisions of the bill. Taxpayers' Viewpoint. In summarising the representations from the taxpayers' point of view, Mr, Mcllvride, secretary of the A.S.R.S., made the following submissions: — (1) That there is no present need for the Government to do any more than it is doing, so far as the Railways Superannuation Fund is concerned.

(2) That the Railways Superannuation Fund was actually, in credit to the extent of £1,454,173 at March 31, 1932. (3) That in case of necessity the Government could even decrease its present payments of £170,000 per annum to the Railways Superannuation Fund from the working railway revenue, in order to meet present liabilities in other directions — provided that the State guarantee, as given and maintained up to the present time, is not withdrawn. (4) That the theoretical actuarial deficiency of £9,000,000, alleged to exist in the Railways Superannuation Fund, is a purely fictitious and panic estimate, which has been shown to be quite unsound, having been based on factors which did not take a true account of present-day tendencies and conditions. Annuitants' Claims. Dealing with the present superannuitants' point of view he submitted: — (1) That the superannuitants joined the fund under State guarantee of superannuation at certain rates, with an assurance that this served the purpose of insurance and other provident funds; and that the Government, having so given a guarantee, cannot now withdraw that guarantee any more than it can refuse to honour its obligations to its other creditors, namely, the people from whom it has borrowed money, the people who have invested in Government life and fire insurance schemes, the contributors and superannuitants of the National Provident Fund, and the people who have entrusted their money to the Post Office Savings Bank. (2) That if, in defiance of the State's solemn obligation, any alteration in superannuation benefits is made, it should be made without discrimination as between one set of superannuitants and another —that is, it should be on a percentage basis of the amount to which the respective superannuitants are at present entitled. The Contributors. He made the following submissions when dealing with the matter from the present contributor's viewpoint:— (1) He has fulfilled his obligations to the fund, and it is the Government's duty, when the time arrives, to fulfil its "share of the contract. Any present decision by the Government to legislate away rights legally conferred strikes at the very roots of civilisation, because civilisation is based upon faith as between man and man, as between State and State, and as between Government and people. (2) The Railways Fund should not be compared with the other fundsbecause (a) it was started first, and hence has had a longer active life than any of the other funds; (2). it has a larger percentage of wages men than either of the other funds, and (c) it has a very much lower proportion of female employees, and consequently a lower proportion of those retiring under the "five years earlier" benefit conferred on women..

(3) If the Government proceeds with this bill, so far as the bill is intended, without the consent of both parties to alter the cc/nditions of superannuation contracted for by railway employees and superannuitants, the Government will be supporting that negation of all principles "contracts only bind you when your interest is to keep them." If this should happen, the following reasonable provisions should be included in the bill: —

(a) That present contributors to the fund should be. given the right to reconsider their position in the light of the new conditions created, and allowed, if they so desire, to recover their payments to the fund, with accrued interest at the average rate earned by the fund since tliey have been contributing, in order that they may make for themselves other suitable arrangements for old age, divorced from this possible fickleness of State security.

(Ib) That if the members have contributed voluntarily at a rate calculated on the rate of pay they were receiving prior to either the 1921 or the more recent reductions in pay, and if the higher rate is not to be taken into account under the proposed legislation, then the members concerned should be entitled to receive refunds of the amounts contributed to the Superannuation Fund, with accrued interest as in previous paragraph (a). Increased Rate Impracticable. (4) That in no case shall the rate of contributions now made by the 3 per cent men be increased, because with two 10 per cent reductions in pay and a 5 per cent wages tax, the net amount of wages these nien are now receiving is so small that where they are paying, as so many of them are doing, contributions based on the rate of pay prior to reductions, the suggested increase in rate would make it quite impossible for them to keep up these payments, with the result that the reasonable expectation of their lives, for which they have sacrificed so much already, would be ruthlessly taken from them. (5) That if Section 116 (2) is repealed, as proposed, with a view to still further reducing the retiring allowance of men retired as a result of injury or infirmity through rendering service to the country, it will be to the lasting discredit of the Government.