Treasury Secretary to retire

Press, 3 August 1976, Page 2

Treasury Secretary to retire

PA Wellington rhe Secretary' to the Treasury (Mr H. G. Lang) has announced that he will retire from his position at the end of next January, and will take up an appointment as visiting professor of economics at Victoria University of Wellington.

Mr Lang said that he had decided more than a year ago to seek employment a little less demanding.

He would have been Secretary to the Treasury for eight years on his retirement, and to stay in the position for any longer “would have been

too long for the Treasury and too long for me.” His health had not been affected by the job, but he wanted to spend more time with his wife and teen-age children. Mr Lang said he had had some differences of opinion with the Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) in public about the Governor en t ’ s superannuation scheme but this had not been a factor in his decision to retire.

He had worked for Mr Muldoon for years before the election, and “I have had no difficulty working with him since he became Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.”

The workload of the Treasury had increased greatly in recent years, and he had often worked 70 hours a week, Mr Lang said.

Mr Muldoon described Mr Lang yesterday as one of the most able and distinguished public servants to have served the Government.

His decision to retire several years earlier than was customary was very much to be regretted. Mr Muldoon said he had asked Mr Lang if he would be available to serve the Government part-time, and had • been assured that he would be.