THE POLICE FORCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13691, 6 March 1908, Page 6

THE POLICE FORCE.

SUPERANNUATION C Hls ME,

A LEGAL OPINION.

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W kluxuton, Thursday. When the idea that the Police Provident Fund should be amalgamated with the new Public Service Superannuation Fund was first mooted, the proposal caused considerable anxiety amongst members of the police force, and a. meeting was subsequently held at which it was decided to obtain a legal opinion as to the exact position of the force as regards the new scheme. It was resolved to secure the opinion of Messrs. C. P. Skerrett, K.C., and Alex. Gray with ft view to liiuling out whether, assuming that the contributors to the Police Provident Fund became contributors to the Public Service Superannuation Fund, such contributors would, under the provision of the Act. become entitled to the benefits of the latter fund, a? if they were original contributors to the fund.

The opinion of the legal advisers is as follows: —

Under the statute creating the Public Service Superannuation Fund, two classes of contributors are recognised, namely .- (1) Original contributors, being persons who become contributors under the provisions of section 10 of the statute, and (2) contributors generally to the fund. The fund created by the Act is, or course, a new fund, and the original contributors under the statute are those who, being employed in the public service, become contributors to .the fund within six months after the coming into operation of the Act.' In computing the benefits to which such original contributors are to lie entitled, such benefits are based upon the service of the contributor in the Public Service, whether before or after the date at which ho becomes a contributor. On the other hand, in the case of a contributor (not being an original contributor) the benefits in the fund to which he becomes entitled are based upon his service in the Public Service from the date at which he becomes a contributor.

Under section 10, if the result of the ballot thereby contemplated is that a majority of the votes recorded thereat are in favour of the amalgamation of tho Police Provident Fund with the Public Service Superannuation Fund, it is provided as from some future date, to be fixed by the Governor, (a) That the Police Provident Fund should be abolished and the amount then Standing to its credit should be paid by the Public Trustee into the fund established under the Act; (b) that all contributors to the Police Provident Fund should be deemed to be contributors to the fund established under the Act, and should thereafter contribute thereto at the rate prescribed by the Act for the age of each such contributor at the date when his first contribution became payable under the Police Provident Fund Act, 1899; (c) that all retiring and other allowances at the time of such amalgamation payable under the List mentioned Act should from time to time be payable out of the Public Service Superannuation Fund; and (d), that the police force should become part of the Public Service within the meaning of the Public Service Superannuation Act" and the provisions of such Act should apply thereto accordingly. It is to be observed that section 40 does not, in express terms, declare that the contributors to the police fund shall be deemed to be original contributors. On the con-' trary, it merely provides that they should be deemed to be contributors. Moreover, it is provided that the police force shall become part of the Public Service as from, a date to be fixed by the Governor by notice in the Gazette, which would appear to place the members of the force in the category of contributors simply, rather than original contributors. It. is true that the rate of their contributions to the Public Service Superannuation Fund is to be regulated by the age of each contributor at the date when he first joined the Police Provident Fund. Nevertheless, it is to be observed that this only deals with the rate of contribution to the,fluid, and has no reference to the benefits which-,the contributor is to receive from the Public Service Superannuation Fund. We are, therefore, unable to advise otherwise than that it is open to grave doubt whether contributors to the Police Provident Fund, in the event of amalgamation, are entitled to the benefits of the funds as original contributors, based on their sen'ice. in the force anterior to the time of their joining the Public Service Superannuation Fund. ' We think that, having regard to the fact that contributions to the Public Service Fund are based on the age of each contributor at; the' time he joined the Police Provident Fund, and tliat to hold the contrary would really be to take away benefits to which the contributor is at present entitled, the Court ' would feel itself at liberty to hold that subsection 6 really meant to make contributors to the Police Provident Fund original contributors under the Act, or at least, as possessing the same rights as original contributors.

The matter is too important a one to be left open to doubt, and we advise tliat contributors) would run a serious risk if they joined the Service Superannuation Fund upon the assumption that they w® entitled to the same benefits from lite fund as original contributors under the Act.