BREACH OF CONTRACT ALLEGED

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 34, 3 November 1934, Page 8

BREACH OF CONTRACT ALLEGED

Railway Superannuation OFFICERS RETIRED IN 1931 The position of railwaymen who were prematurely retired in 1931 as an economy measure and whose superannuation was computed on an actuarial basis was discussed in the House of Representatives yesterday when the public petitions committee brought in a favourable report on the petition of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, praying for legislation providing for the payment of full superannuation to these men. The committee reported that the petition affected some 135 men, and that the cost to the Government if the necessary legislation were brought down would be approximately £6OOO, reducible by deaths. The petition-was referred to the Government for favourable consideration. Members referred to cases of hardship which had resulted from the Government’s action, Mr. Walter Nash (Lab., Hutt) saying that the small pension the men received prevented them from going on relief work and from obtaining other work. The Minister of Railways, Rt. Hon. G. W- Forbes, said he sympathised with the men concerned, but that railway business had declined since the men were employed. The same number of men were not required, and some had to be retired. The same position had been faced by many private firms. Under the rules of the superannuation fund the retired men were entitled to withdraw the money they had paid in, but the Government, agreeing to give them a concession, had offered them as an alternative a pension computable on an actuarial basis. The Leader of thet Opposition, Mr. M. .T. Savage, described the Government's action as a distinct breach of the contract entered into between the men and the State. The report was tabled.