ANGLICAN CLERGY PENSIONS

Evening Star, Issue 19078, 22 October 1925, Page 12

ANGLICAN CLERGY PENSIONS

HEW STATUTE EHAGTED MEAHIHGS MADE CLEAD One of the principal subjects before the Synod of tho diocese of Cuncdm last week was the altering of the pension fund scheme in certain respects. 'Archdeacon Fitchett had charge of tho Bill that was brought down with that object. Considerable discussion took place in committee on some or the now provisions, but the objections were mostly from members who had not thoroughly studied tho proposals, and upon explanation being made the difficulties disappeared, the outcome being that the Synod eventually adopted the proposals with pronounced heartiness. Under tho title the Clergy Widow, and Orphans’ pension Trust Fund, the Pension Fund was formed m tho first instance in 1903, by a statute> promoted by the late Mr J. M. Ritchie. Under that statute the cleray paid 1 per cent, of their stipends and the parishes paid the same, £ for £. Thera were no benefits, .except suen as the Pension Board might or . might not grant. Tho idea at the time was to create a nucleus. . In 1912 Archdeacon Ourzon-Siggero '(then Canon) brought iu a jhll which repealed the statute of 1903 and enacted a new statute. It provided that all so far paid into the fund and £1,4J0 taken from tho Cemetery Capital Fund should go to the capital of the Clergy, Widow, and Orphans’ Pension .Fund. That clergy should not join the fund after fifty-five years of ago. That there should be a flat rate of premium for ’the clergy and a flat rate for parishes and institutions. Pensions for clergymen retiring, after sixty-five years of and pensions for widows nna an allowance for orphans were fixed. It was also provided that at tho discretion of tho Pension Board a grant might ho made to a clergyman under sixty-five years of age if wholly incapacitated. • A _. The chief amendment to this Statute was in 1920, when tho premiums wore increased and the pension tor clergy was fixed at £3 for each year of service in the diocese between 1904 and 1921, and £4 for each year of service thereafter. Also a Pension Augmentation Fund was established to augment —at the discretion of the board —■the pensions of clergy retiring when bver seventy years of age. The main object of the statute brought down this year was to make the provisions clear. Thoro was much ambiguity about the language of tho statute as it stood. Clauses were open to misinterpretation. Tory few could understand it. Tho now statute repeals tho old and takes its place. The clauses are as short as possible, and the language clear. Anyone can grasp and. understand the provisions without difficulty, and nothing seems capable of misinterpretation. There are some slight, but important alterations in tho provisions. The title of the fund is changed, to the Clergy Pension Fund, but this is only for convenience. One change is that only those benefits to which a clergyman, his widow, or his children are absolutely entitled are made a charge upon tho ■Pension Fund. Benefits which may bo 'granted at the discretion of the board fere made a charge upon the Augmentation Fund. The pension of the clergy is put at a flat rat© of £4 per year of service from the beginning of membership. Another change is this: Under the bid Statute a.man leaving the diocese tould leave his interest in the fund, but he did not leave any interest for his widow. Now, unless his marriage is subsequent to. the date of his leaving his interest in the fund, bis widow is entitled to a pension and to the allowance for children. One more change is that the children’s allowance does not cease if the jmother remarries. Under the old statute it did cease. Still another alteration is that if a toan marries after he is fifty-five years bf age the marriage does not entitle. Jus widow to a pension. This is purely a Dunedin diocesan Scheme. Other districts have their bwn pension schemes, of a varying toature. Last General Synod appointed a Commission to study these funds and try to evolve a scheme for the wlinlo dominion. Archdeacon Fitchett is a member of that commission. At present there are in the Dunedin Hlocese between forty and fifty men toembers of the Eonsion Fund. INADEQUACY OF THE PENSION. If a clergyman has been a member of the fund and served in the diocese for twenty years when he comes to the retiring age of sixty-five years, if ho his pension will be £3O a year. If he dies dither before or after retiring his widow, if she is under thirty years of age at. the time of his death, will get a pension of £2O, if between tlurty and forty her pension will be £3O, if between forty and fifty her pension will be £36, and so on to the mamma, which is for a widow who was sixty-five or over at the time of her husband’s death. Her pension would bo £6O. A widow is entitled to a total allowance, of £ls a year while she has any children under sixteen years of age. Obviously the benefits derivable from Jihe Dunedin fund are inadequate. These facts constitute a strong appeal to laymen of substance to augment the rand. The capital at present stands at £13,000 odd. It ought to be increased by £15,000 in order that adequate and decent provision may be jmaefe for clergymen in their old age, land particularly for their dependents. Tho difficulty cannot be overcome by calling upon the clergymen to pay higher contributions. The great majority of them are receiving stipends totally incommensurate with their duties and status. An important point is that with the exception of the £1,425 from the Cemetery Fund and a £SOO legacy from the estate of the late Mr E. E. O. Quick the capital of the fund has been entirely built. up from the clergymen’s .land the parish contributions. Financial matters were better ordered for the clergy by the law that yas 'given from Mount Sinai 3,500 years ago or thereabouts;—“All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s, and concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flock the tenth shall bo holy unto the Lord.” .When was this repealed?