"AN INSULTING TERM"
"PENSION" FOR "SUPERANNUATION." Use of the term "pension" in relation to superannuation met with an unkindly reception at the annual meeting of the Wellington Branch of Superannuated Public Servants yesterday afternoon. In the report mention was made of information which had been sought regarding amounts paid' out of a certain sum of £100,000 set aside by the Prime Minister for assistance, and references' to which have already been made in the press. Sir Edward Gibbes 1, in speaking to the motion to adopt the report and financial -istatement, said that he was much impressed with the difficulty that the Treasury had in the distribution of the sum referred to. In making up pensions to £100 there was no indication of what independent income a person had. The association took the mechanical rule that a person's pension was £70. ~
Mr..G. Girling Butcher: "I^rise to a point of order. There is no pension whatever. The .insulting term pension should not be used."
The Chairman (Captain W. de R. Barclay) thought that Sir Edward Gibbes was rather taking up the attitude of having a brief for the Treasury. The speaker went on to refer to the fact that when the question was asked, "How .much of. that £100,000. has been spent?" they could only set an evasive answer, from the Treasury. "What kind of method is that of conducting pußlic ■business?" he asked. Captain Barclay offered-a reason for the objection to the term "pension." '
Sir Edward Gibbes: "I am utterly unable to see the difference between the term 'pension' and 'superannuation.'-To speak of 'the insulting term pension' is ,the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard of."
"Let ~me pour oil on the troubled waters," the Chairman interjected, but his effort was not convincing to Sir Edward, who remarked: "I regret to have to submit that you are wrong. . . . In practice there is no difference. To say there is anything insulting in the term is absurd."
The discussion then turned to another subject. ,
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 48, 25 August 1921, Page 7
Word Count
333"AN INSULTING TERM" Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 48, 25 August 1921, Page 7
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