SUPERANNUATION FUND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2675, 21 June 1905, Page 37

SUPERANNUATION FUND.

Some people who^o bushiest i^ not to mvevtigala superannuation schemes, and wLo have no knowledge, or, at anyiai-c, but a slight one, dcclaro such a, Theme to be a pension scheme. This view is not correct. I hold strongly that the colony did right I in some years ago abolishing the pension ' system to public fcorvante, and while those

who are entitled to pensions must and will have their claims respected, there has not been for many years any system of granting pensions to civil servants. However, there has been a great growth in the public service of the colony, a growth attendant upon the great increase o[ trade generally, and the increase in the departments rendered necessary by that growth. Pensions being abolished, tlu- State, as the largest employer, has still its duty to the employees, and a superannuation scheme under which contributions upon a well-thought-out scale aro given by the State employees so as to build up a strong fund oul of which annuities to old and deserving servants who are called upon to retire owing to physical incapabilities or disablement can be provided, should he ■e c tablished, the whole funds being contributed by the employees who join the scheme, and the State, instead of giving a monetary contribution, becoming the security for any deficiency should one arise. I have personally examined a number of superannuation schemes, chiefly in connection with the railway service, and I have no hesitancy whatever in declaring my strong belief that a superannuation -scheme could l>e provided for the post and telegraph service and the whole of thp Civil Service, as well as the employees of the Education Department, that could be built up into a powerful fund under which no financial payment whatever in the future wculd be required from the State. — (Applause.) The scheme now in operation in the Railway Department has enabled nearly 300 old servants and faithful employees of the department to bo superannuated, and notwithstanding- that an accumulation of old employees had gone on for a life time, and there "was, consequently, a heavy weight put upon the fund at ite inception, there were in round figuies between £68,000 and £70,000 at the credit of the fund on March 31 last. (Applause ) There is nothing I know of more distressing than to find a number of elderly men with families depending upon them — and who have served a long period of years in some department, and who are not entitled to a pension«— when the time comes for them to retire that they have nothing to live on and but uncertainty before them, as a long grooved life in the Civil Service has not fitted them to fight their battles in the outside business world. I think the colony, as the largest employer of labour, has & clear duty in ihi3 respect, and I may add that I am of c pinion that many of the employees of the local public bodies, harbour boards and county councils, river boards, etc., could be grouped in such a system. You will find in all parts of the colony men approaching old age, who perhaps have had to bring up large families, apd have had misfortune or long periods of sickness whose prospects aro anything but bright, and there seems to me no reason why private employers could not bo grouped, if they so desired, throughout the colony, so as to establish a humane system for those who ar© growing old and infirm in their service. — (Applause.)