PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 948, 15 October 1910, Page 10

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION.

-0 Sir, of.- registration' recently issued'.to members .disclose 1 that, Although five years' continuous sorvico have been completed, only . continuous time up to Juno 30, ,1908, is allowed, and that the subsequent time between that period .and, the •.-commencement of payment to ;the fund 'is calculated .as discontinuous. To demonstrate this: A person entered the servico in' March, 1905, and in. March, 1910, has completed the fivo years' continuous time as inquired by the Act, but only three years and three months .aiV. allowed in computing' superannuation time, tho : residue —one...year arid- nine monthsbeing disallowed. Superannuation tamo restarts in March, 1910. Why the Government differentiates between members ~ : of tho service' joiiiiiig" the fund requires explanation.' Officers with five, years ; and'over when 1 tho Act came into force, were appointed permarientfy, and granted' all "continuous time gratis. They paid .no. contributions for tiiiio served prior to,: 1908. Many were retired in 1909, arid, although they contributed'for a few months only, are now receiving adequate allowances, from the fund, and their''contributions

have ceased. Section 28 of the principal Act, 1908, referring to persons temporarily employed, provides, at tho oxpiration' of fivo years' ' continuous service, that they "shall ho contributors entitled to all the benefits of tho fund." An amending Act .of 1908, Section 61, Sub-Section 3, has ingeniously severed the continuous timo of the parent Act. . This differential treatment of officers of ;tho_ service creates dissension, and' impairs the effective work of the Departments; therefore, Parliament should review such a ludicrous enactment, and .amend' the Act by removing a disability which degrades its othenviso ■ excellent provisions.—l am, etc., < CONTRIBUTOR.