STATE SUPERANNUITANTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26028, 17 December 1945, Page 4

STATE SUPERANNUITANTS

Protests against the manner in which the Government rushed through last-minute legislation have been expressed throughout New Zealand, but will be ignored by the members of a peripatetic Cabinet, who by now will be busily arranging their next series of junketings far from the madding throng of their critics. This legislative precipitancy is such that not only ill-considered or “ sneak ” measures are forced through the House of Representatives in the closing stages of the session, but legislation that may not be at all exceptionable is effected without the examination that it should receive. Particularly is this the case with measures which may involve heavy expenditure. A case in point is the Superannuation Amendment Act, which was hurried through the House with a most cursory blessing. The Minister of Finance, who provided a brief exposition of its designs, was able to show that the amendments are of a just nature, as they rectify several anomalies and injustices in the State superannuation schemes;" including that which provides for teachers’ superannuation. He did not, however, offer even an estimate of what the annual increase of burden upon the Consolidated Fund will be as a result of the amending legislation. It is a point upon which the people ■'of New Zealand, upon whom rests a liability to meet deficiencies in the superannuation schemes, should have been 1 informed, and they have a very real cause, for complaint against, of all sponsors of such a measure, a Finance Minister who fails to provide them with such ■> obviously needed information. The amending Act is not objectionable in itself. The most important provision, both as affecting the body of State superannuitants and those in the higher salary brackets in the teachers’ superannuation scheme, is the removal of the £3OO limit on retiring allowances. It is possible that superannuitants who have contributed largely to the funds may still not consider the maximum they can receive on their retirement an adequate return. This is particularly the case, as Professor Bell demonstrates in an analysis which we print this morning, with members of the University staff, to whom salaries ranging up to .£2OOO are paid. Actuarially it would, depending on circumstances, be more profitable still, as it has been in the past, for a high-salaried teacher to make his superannuation arrangements outside the State schemes. The Government, in providing for its employees, including teachers, to do this if they prefer, removes a major complaint, while the grossly inequitable relationship between contributions to the funds, and returns from them is at the same time to some extent adjusted.