"AFTER FORTY YEARS' SERVICE"

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 147, 19 December 1933, Page 10

"AFTER FORTY YEARS' SERVICE"

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I wonder that the announcements which are continually appearing in the news-papers that Mr. X, a civil servant, is about to retire after forty years' service have not excited more interest and commeut. It is of vital importance to this Dominion. Let us give some consideration to the cost both to the country and the man. Firstly.—What does the superannuation payment cost? An investor is lucky these days if, after paying his income tax, land fax, and unemployment tax and other imposts placed upon him he nets 2 per cent, on his investments. Mr. X. retires on a superannuation allowance of, say, £500 per annum. A capital amount of £25,000 must be hypothecated to earn tha annual superannuation. Can the country stand it? I say unhesitatingly that it cannot. Beeondly.—A civil servant retiring after forty years' service is probably 55 or 56 years of age. It has been a vogue that this is the day of the young man. America lias carried the idea to its furthest limits, and we have heard there the cry "too old at forty." America, however, is reversing that policy, and anyone with a- knowledge of human nature knows that a man at sixty, in normal health and capacity, possesses a reserve of experience and judgment which cannot be acquired earlier. Can the country afford to empty this l'eser- ! voir of matured mentality? Again I Bay I that it cannot. Thirdly.—What is the effect upon the man Jiimself ? He is in many cases only approachig the zenith of his powers,: and suddenly the rhythm of his life is snapped and he is left to find himself again in some restricted sphere of usefulness. Many men find the outlet i-they require in acts of charity or public services, but in any case they are not being used to the full extent of their capacity.-Surely it. is time that the extent of this economic waste be reviewed.—l am, etc., SCRAP HEAP.