SUPERANNUATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 285, 1 December 1932, Page 14

SUPERANNUATION.

POLICE FORCE VIEWS. AGE OF RETIREMENT. SPECIAL PROVISION NEEDED. ■——— The views of the police force on the Government Superannuation Funds Bill were outlined by the commissioner. Mr. W. G. Wohlmann, in evidence given before the special Parliamentary Committee. The Police Provident Fund Act, ISO 9, established the first Public Service superannuation fund in New Zealand, said the commissioner. This fund successfully met the needs of the police service 'until the year 1910, when, without the consent of the contributors and ill conflict with their wishes, it was merged with the present Public Service Superannuation Fund one year after the establishment of that fund. At that time the Police Provident Fund had a reserve of £32,75G, and that sum was taken over to help establish the new Public Service Superannuation Fund. It would be observed that the police contributed £32,786 to the new Public Service Superannuation Fund, as against one year's contribution paid in by the other contributors to that fund up to the time the funds were merged. For that contribution the police received no benefit beyond that shared by the other contributors. In effect the police had been contributing to the present Public Service Superannuation Fund for eight and one-twelfth years longer than any other contributors to that fund. Efficiency of the Force. Section 6 of the Government Superannuation Bill, 1932, because it struck at the fundamental principle essential for the efficiency of the force, was strongly and unanimously opposed by the members of the poiice force, continued the commissioner. The effect of this section (6) would be to retain in the force men who were past their period of efficiency. The fundamental principle so essential for the efficiency of a police force was that its members must be physically fit to discharge their duty; 97.83 per cent of the members of the police force were below commissioned rank, and liable to be called upon, night or day, to discharge the duties imposed upon them by law, for default of which they were subject to fine or imprisonment. "It is unreasonable to expect members of the force over U0 years of age to possess the physical fitness necessary to adequately discharge the duties required of them," added the commissioner. "A policeman is, in effect, a civil soldier, always on active service. This is recognised by section 14 of the Finance Act. 1919, as consolidated in section 02 of the Public Service Superannuation Act, 1927, which provides that any officer of police injured on duty is to be treated for pension purposes as if he were a member of an expeditionary force wounded on active service. Age of Retiring. "As the conditions of service in the police force are so dissimilar to those of other departments of the Public Service, its members trust they will be held to be justified in submitting for serious consideration that in respect to all members of the force, including police matrons, one year of service should be counted as one and one-seventh years for superannuation purposes, thus giving police contributors who have reached the age of 60 years the right to retire with a full pension on their completing 35 years of actual service. This is half of what is granted to the police in England, where three years of actual service are counted as four years for superannuation purposes. "The effect would be to enable the police, whose average age of joining the force is 25 years, to retire before they had passed their period of efficiency on a pension approximating to that receivable by other contributors to the Public Service Superannuation Fund." Effects of Arduous Duties. In further support «f the submission made it may be pointed out:— (1) The police, by reason of habitual and regular duty on Sundays and public holidays, perform in 35 years longer service than most other Public Service contributors would perform in 40 years. (2) During the four-year period, January 1, 1928, to December 31, 1931, of a total of 22 members of the force who died and 52 who were retired from the service, not one qualified for full pension by attaining 40 years' service, the average length of service of those who died being 22 years 6£ months, and of those who retired 27 years 8| months. Section 8 of the bill was opposed for the reason that it would reduce too seriously the amount of superannuation members of the force could receive du to the relatively late age at which they reached maximum pay prior to retirement, said the commissioner. By extending the period from three to ten years on the average salary of which pension was to be computed, the retiring allowance of officers in most instances would be computed partly on the relatively low salary they received as sergeants, and in respect to sergeants on the pay they received as constables. One of the chief motives, up to the present, inspiring members of the force to qualify by examination for the higher ranks of the service would be affected by the reduction in pension. Limit to Pension. "With, respect to section 9 of the bill, we suggest," said the commissioner, "that section 30 of the principal Act should not be repealed, but should be amended by substituting £600 for £300, also by providing that no contributor shall be required to contribute for superannuation purposes on a higher salary than £900 per annum. We consider that a maximum pension of £300 per annum for contributors who joined the service since 1909 would operate unfairly in comparison with the pensions payable to contributors who joined the police service prior to 1909. "Some limit to pension is, we consider, necessary to preclude the payment of unduly high pensions. But if section 9 of the bill is passed into law or if section 30 of the Public Service Superannuation Act is amended, we suggest that an opportunity should be given to all those members of the service who did not elect to contribute for superannuation purposes one house allowance, value of free quarters or on a higher rate of salary received prior to reduction in iay, to reconsider their position. Many contributors did not so elect for the reason no advantage was to be gained because of the £300 pension limit." In conclusion, Mr. Wohlmann quoted the report of the National Expenditure Committee, which found that the Police Department was "economically trred. 5, »_-.-—,_ . --- j^