SAFEGUARDING SUPERANNUATION

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 28, 27 October 1932, Page 8

SAFEGUARDING SUPERANNUATION

As mentioned yesterday, provision has been made in the Superannuation Bill for the proposed Government subsidy ° the contributions paid into their respective funds by the State service to be placed on a basis of fixed regularity. The State s annual contribution is to be paid by monthly instalments. _ This is so far satisfactory. The public services, however, ar entitled in view of past experience to ask how the regularity of these subsidy payments is to be safeguarded in the future It may b assumed that the new basis upon which it is proposed to place th Superannuation Funds and which, it is calculated, will eventua y restore their equilibrium, is the result of careful actuarial study. Bu. the sacrifices which the present and prospective annuitants are asked to make as their contribution to the stabilisation, of the funds will be of no use if the Government’s payments are allowed to fall into arrears as before. , , r , There is nothing to be gained by harping on what has aheady happened. The point must be made, however, that the present crisis did not approach with the stealth and furtiveness of a thief in the night. The march to the precipice was made in broad daylight, the reports of the Superannuation Boards, on which the Public Servants are represented, and the periodical statements by the official actuarial experts concerning the state of the funds, were published for tie information of all concerned. It was open at any time for any member of Parliament, or any member of the public services to diaw attention to the repeated warnings given in these reports concerning the dangerous drift of the funds. . Had these warnings been heeded, there could have been a timely stock-taking of the situation, and the necessary measures taken to adjust it. Greater vigilance will be required in the future, and it will be the duty of the contributors as well as Parliament to exercise it —the contributors in their own interests, and Parliament in the interests of the State. There can be no question of the contributors falling into arrears, for their payments are deducted from salary. Circumstances may arise in the future, however, when the Government of the day, to tide over a temporary shortage, may yield to the temptation to postpone its instalments. In such an event prompt protest should be made. In no circumstances should the position be allowed to drift. What has happened in the past should be a salutary lesson to all concerned that the actuarial conditions upon which provident schemes are based must be strictly observed.