CUT IN SUPERANNUATION

Grey River Argus, 18 December 1948, Page 2

CUT IN SUPERANNUATION

(To the Editor) Sir—l am rather surprised and not a little disgusted with the remarks ol Mr J. K. McAlpine, M.P. concerning the recent decision of the Government to make £3OO the maximum amount that a State superannuitani can draw after retirement. Everyone knows that the State itself, has iiad to contribute millions ana millions of pounds to State superannuation xunds to keep them solvent, and ail oecause an otherwise unbenevolent Government of Tory days elected to give extraordinary amounts to chosen civil servants. One could mention the Member for Wairarapa, who gets £1066 a year, and who is a former general manager of railways, but the classic ought to be that of a certain superannuitant who gets £2OOO a year —and has done so for more than 20 years—yet. at 89 or thereabouts, if he were to marry someone aoout 50 years his junior, his widow would be entitled to draw his enormous sum, during her entire widowhood—perhaps meaning that the State would cough up £2OOO a year for another 50 or 60 years. Surely, the Government’s decision is just, and much overdue. Of course, Mr McAlpine objected —as did Mr Holland—to the dumping of potatoes. I don’t hold with the waste of food at any time, particularly when there is a world food shortage, but I wonder what potato growers amongst Mr McAlpine’s constituents would have to say if, by the potatoes being placed on the market, their new crops realised only a modesr penny or two a pound? Perhaps he and his apparently venerated leader would sooner have the growers eat the dust? Of course, some of us have long memories. One memory I have is of sentries guarding food dumps during the period before Labour came into power. They were not guarding them as the Christchurch women did —they were making sure that, those who had not enough to eat, did not get any food from the dumps. I am etc “TRUTH WILL OUT”