RETIREMENT OF MR COMPTON

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27641, 23 April 1955, Page 6

RETIREMENT OF MR COMPTON

Annuity Proposal Attacked PUBLIC SERVANTS “CONCERNED” (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, April 22. The Public Service Association, in a letter to the Prime Minister (Mr Holland), has criticised the terms on which Mr E. H. Compton is retiring on superannuation from the position of Commissioner of Police. In a statement issued tonight, the president of the association (Mr M. T. Mitchell) said his executive committee had been concerned to note from the Prime Minister’s recent announcement that there was a possibility that the Government Superannuation Fund would be required to pay to the retiring Commissioner a retiring annuity to which he was not entitled under the Government Superannuation Act. The matter had been considered by the executive committee this week, said Mr Mitchell, and a letter had been sent to .the Prime Minister, expressing the opmion that any retiring allowance which the Government might decide to pay to Mr Compton should not be paid out of the Government Superannuation Fund, but should be paid from some other appropriate source, such as the Consolidated Fund. The letter said: “The position is that the officer concerned is not entitled, either .by length of contributory service or by age, to retire on superannuation, even under those clauses which permit retirement in special cases earlier than is normally possible; and, so far as we are aware, the Superannuation Board has no power to pay to him any annuity on his retirement. Calculation Challenged “Further it appears from the reported announcement that the proposed retiring allowance is considerably greater than the officer would be entitled to, even if the requirements of the act as to age and length of service had been met,” the letter said. “The proposed allowance appears to be calculated on present salary, whereas the act provides that the calculation should be on salary averaged over the last five years of service. From such details as are available to us, it appears that, even if an allowance were legally payable, it would be considerably less than the £Bl2 which has been mentioned. “Moreover, we are informed that the Superannuation Board has not been consulted on this matter,” the letter said.

“Mr Compton would, of course, be entitled to a refund of the contributions which he has made to the Superannuation Fund; and it will be clearly understood that the Public Service Association has no representations whatever to make in respect of this officer’s legal entitlement, nor do its representations go beyond insisting that no payment should be made to him out of the fund to which he is not entitled,” said the association’s letter.