CHILD ENDOWMENT

Evening Star, Issue 19408, 17 November 1926, Page 3

CHILD ENDOWMENT

POSITION IN AUSTRALIA An application, which was opposed by the Public Service Board and the Commonwealth Railway Commissioner, was made to the Public Service Arbitrator, Mr A. Hunt, in Melbourne recently by the Public Service Clerical Association that tho child endowment system should be extended to embrace officers receiving £SOO a year. The claim set out that there are about 600 officers in the service in receipt of £SOO or more a year, and that they wore now being forced in some ■ departments to contribute to a fund from which they could not benefit. The Public Service Board representa tive, Mr F. G. Thorpe, stated that the fund was provided by small _ contributions by all officers. If the higher-paid officers ,were to participate _it would result in increased contributions being required from tho lower-paid officers Tho board considered thgt it was wrong for a man receiving £I,OOO a year to receive child endowment at the fate of 5s a week at, the expense of the. lowerpaid officers of the service. Mr Thorpe submitted figures which showed that in 1924-25 £217.455 f had been expended on child endowment. The actual deduction made from each of 18,512 male officers to cover this outlay was £ll 3s 7d. It had been worked out on the average of figures for Victorian officers that under tho association’s proposals endowment would be paid for an extra 780 children throughout the service. This, with other adjustments that would be necessary, would increase the expenditure under the system by £12,792. A deduction for bach adult officer would then bo £l2 8s -9d a year. ’ _ The Arbitrator reserved his' decision.