SUPERANNUATION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18194, 3 October 1924, Page 11

SUPERANNUATION.

—! ~+~. THE RAILWAYS FUND. DISCUSSION IN-HOUSE. (r&SBS ASSOCIATION TELXGEAK.) . WELLINGTON, October 2. In the House of Representatives this afternoon .the Hon. J.. G. Coates laid on the table the annual report on the . Railway Superannuation Fund. Mr Veitch asked the Minister to state what the effect had been upon the fund by virtue of the recent chango in policy under which the cost of administration was to be borne by the fund and not by the Railway Department and, secondly, what extra demands had been made upon the fund by virtue of the • fact that' every railway servant who reached 60 years of age, or 40 years' service was now compelled to retire. Mr Holland said-he thought the time had.arrived'when, there should be a readjustment. of. the superannuation system. The position was that some men were retiring with allowances varying from £.500 to £9OO per year, while others were being pushed out with not sufficient to live upon. It should not be the purpose- of superannuation, that those in receipt of it should be able to save money out of it. Mr Isitt declared that Mr : Holland's scheme meant repudiation. Mr Holland denied, that it meant anything of the kind. " Mr Smith said he did not think Mr Holland 'meant: ijcpudiatiouj but the time had certainly" arrived tvhen a revision was necessary, because the original scheme was based on the old value, of the sovereign, and not on the present-day value. Mr Coates, in reply, said the reason that some men were retiring on what appeared large sums was that before the 1919 plan superannuation was based on the salary earned and ■whatever contract was made in that connexion must be honoured. Since • 1919 the maximum, retiring, allowance was limited to £3OO. . There was .no doubt the fund was not stable and would have to be supported, but the- prevailing opinion was that it should be paid out of the Railways earnings and not out of the Consolidated Fund. The amount paid in last year was £156,186 or £44,500 • short of what was required. It might be a debatable point whether men should be retired.at sixty years of age or after forty years' "service; that was a matter of Government policy and was being carried out at present because he believed it was sometimes a good thing to rejuvenate departments by the promotion of younger men. . (aracm, to "th» .WELLINGTON, October 2. The report of the Board of the Government. Railways Superannuation fnji.d that the allowances actually paid" during, the year amounted to £157,186, representing grants to 1325 members of the Railway service who have either voluntarily ,> resigned or been retired as medically unfit; Allowances amounting to £14,412 were paid in respect to 436 widows and 582 children, dependents of deceased members of the service who ha ; d not retired on superannuation at the time of their death. Payments amounting to £SSS 3s 9d were made to the legal representatives of the deceased members under Section 86, Sub-seotion (c) of the Act. A sum of £27j497, representing contributions of members of the.service who voluntarily retired 'or whose services were otherwise dispensed with during the year, was refunded to the members concerned in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The balance •to the of the accumulated fund on March 31st, 1924, was £467,827, an increase'of £87,608. The gross income for the year was £287,150 4s 2d. The income from contributions of Members of the fund amounted to £133,148, or £44,540 less than the actual annual liability on-March 31st.