THE CIVIL SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13767, 4 June 1908, Page 6

THE CIVIL SERVICE.

SUPERANNUATION SCHEME. DISCUSSION. IN WELLINGTON. [BY TELEGRAM.OWN' COBRESrOXDBST.] Wellington, Wednesday. This' grievance in regard to the Superannuation Fund with which a deputation of Civil servants approached the Hon. Geo. Fowlds in Auckland on Monday has caused a greatdeal of discussion among Civil servants, .in this city. ' Even at this late date there exists a good deal of misconception regarding some..of the conditions of the fund. A representative of the New Zealand Herald endeavoured tc investigate the position from both sides, that of the aggrieved persons and that of the official:- who uphold the regulation that is the subject of complaint. The argument of the aggrieved officers is as follows:— Act states that a Civil servant may. at any time within six months after the coming into operation of this Act (i.e.. by dune 30), bv notice to the secretary of the board,'elect to become it contribute to the fund." but a regulation published in last week's Gazette stated that only those persons should bo allowed to vote in the election of a board who join the fund before June 16. This subsequent regulation curtails, it is complained, the privilege granted'bv the Act itself under which Civil servants are allowed till June 30 to come within the provisions of the fund, and the value of that privilege can be assessed by each officer in exact terms of shillings and pence. A Civil servant, with a salary of £500, and on a 10 per cent, basis as regards his payments to the fund, must suffer from that salary to the value, of £50 a year, or £4 3s 4d a month, immediately be becomes a contributor to the fund. Generally, he is anxious to"defer the necessity for thesedeductions as long as possible, and the Superannuation Act allowed him to do so, he maintains, till June 30, without losing any of the benefits of a first contributor. If. in accordance with the Act, he joins the fund on June 29, he will only suffer a deduction for June of 1-30 th of his monthly contribution. If he joins, say, on June 15, in time to obtain voting rights, he will be liable for half that monthly contribution: that is to say, about £2 will be deducted from his salary, which he might have saved by postponing his admission to the fund. " The Civil sen-ant who so argues considers it a- real injustice that he should bo hurried into joining the fund at increased expense to himself by a provision that he will lose his voting rights unless he comes in at a date previous to that fixed bv the Act for the acceptance of new contributors.

The point docs not affect the average Civil servant who up to the present was eoinpuborily insured, and has now given up his insurance to join the scheme. The Act allowed him to receive the surrender value of his policy, and one man is said to have received back as much as £300 of insurance premiums. Several others, it is stated, have left the service to commence in business on their own account with the insurance money they have drawn, and thus an Act, which had as one of its prime objects to keep men in the service, has assisted them to get promptly out of it. Other men who have drawn, their insurance money, while receiving nothing which was not their own, have felt too grateful for the access of present and 'available riches to grudge a trifling portion to the Superannuation Fund.

Neither doe* this grievance affect the former temporary clerk. When he was made a, permanent official ho became liable at once to either insurance or superannuation payments, and he had no chance of waiting till June 30. The present trouble affects permanent Civil servants, who for some reason or another have escaped compulsory insurance in the past. Most of them, have escaped, because they entered the service in the early days when insurance was not compulsory, and there are said to bo a considerable number of this class, and they are indignant that, whilst the Act expressly gave them till June 30 to become.contributors to the fund, by coming in a fortnightearlier they must pay 10s, 15s, £1, or £2 for the privilege of voting. These officers admit that the date of the election was fixed by the Act for July 6, and that an interval is necessary, after the enrolment of voters ceases, before the election can be hold, but they feel that if the intention of the Act can be altered in one direction, as they claim it has been, the date of the election could have been postponed by special Order-in-Council, and their nresont grievance prevented.

In defence of the abused regulation, it is argued that the date of the election could not have been altered after it was fixed by the Act. It is stated that no matter when application is made to join the fund, deductions and benefits only commence on the date from when the officer elected to becomo a contributor, and thus an officer could join in January as from June 30, and he would not become liable to deductions, till the latter date. This point is interesting, as some imply that it was not understood by many Civil sen-ante, -who in the early months of the year sent in their applications to become contributors as from the date of writing. As against this, it is stated in official quarters that the position was made plain to all. '