TOO OLD AT 60.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19769, 6 November 1929, Page 10

TOO OLD AT 60.

retirement of public SERVANTS. COMMISSIONER DEFEM-S POLICY. [THE 7BESS Special Service.] "WELLINGI ON, October o. Is a man too old for work at sixty? That question is raised by comments made by the Public Service Commissioner, Mr I'. Verschaffelt, in his annual report, which was tabled in the House of Representatives to-day. Discussing the retirement of officers, Mr Wrschaffelt says:— "Except in a few isolated and special cases, the policy of retiring officers in conformity with the provisions of the Public Service Act on attaining sixty-five years of age has been continued. In a limited number of i-nsc-s younger officers who have qualified bv virtue of having forty years' service, and officers who have less service, but who are sixty years of age, have exercised their right to retire on superannuation. "The matter of the retirement of officers before sixty-five years of age has excited comment in some directions. On the one hand it is considered that early retirements involve an undue strain on the superannuation funds, and in some cases a loss of valuable services to the State. Experience shows that except in rare cases the advantage lies in the practice of retiring officers after forty years' service. On reaching sixty years of age after forty years' service, there is rarely that keenness of ambition with which the younger officer is imbued, and there is a tendency for officers Hearing the statutory retiring age to adopt a laissez-faire attitude in situaations which are likely to become embarrassing or involved. "On the other hand, in a few eases officers who are drawing superannuation are also filling fairly remunerative positions outside the service, allegedly on an unfair basis competitively, because of the fact that they are on superannuaation. Such an attitude entirely overlooks that every unit of society is perfectlv justified" in remaining a producing unit so long as he is physically capable of so doing, and that in the long run it is an economic advantage for him to do so. The superannuation is an officers 'surplus of production,' in other words, his accumulated excess of income over expenditure. The amount contributed by the State is in the nature of a deferred payment for services rendered by him, whilst the major portion is bought by the officer himself as an annuity. The officer, in taking up private business, is practically in no wav dissimilar to the private citizen who from the store of his savings embarks upon a new venture towards the evening of his career. It may be suggested, if the officer is physically fit to take up private work on retirement that he should not be retired, but it must be borne in mind that .these are exceptional cases. The general experience, as stated above, is that it is an advantage to retire officers in conformitv with the Statute, both in the interests of the Service, and in the interests of the staff. It would be impracticable and undesirable to institute any proposal that would involve differential treatment for these odd cases.