SUPERANNUATED RAILWAY SERVANTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 4

SUPERANNUATED RAILWAY SERVANTS.

LEAVE ON FULL PAY. The following letter has been received by Mr T. K. Sidey, M.P., from the Hon. J. A. Millar, ' Minister of Railways: — With reference to the representations made to the Right Hon. the Prime Minister by the deputation of railway men who interviewed him at Duncdm respecting the granting of extended lt>av o on full pay to those members of the railway service who have been retired on. superannuation, I hare the honour to inform you thai the matter has been vovy exhaustively looked into, and I find tha"t the application retrospectively to all those who have been superannuated of the scale of leave now granted to employees retiring from the railway service would involve the expenditure of several thousands of pounds, for which the Stato would obtain no return by way of ser\ices. You will, I feel sure, recognise that in such circumstances it is quite impracticable to comply with the request of the deputation. Briefly put, the explanation of the above position is that railway servants who are about to retire on superannuation are entitled to certain leave of absence on fulf nay, the length of such absence being in accordance with their ' period " of service. A number of railway men who went out on superannuation were not aware of this concession, and it was only after one and 1 then another had benefited by it that they realised what they had overlooked. Accordingly they made application for the full pay over the leave of absence they were entitled to and did not receive. In the interview referred to in the Jetteir above Sir Joseph Ward was requested to allow the men the amount to which they would have been entitled had they given the required notice, less contributions to and allowances received under the superannuation fund. Mr Sidey has had several communications with the Minister on the subject, and the matter was finally referred to Cabinet, with the result above announced. Mr Sidey is much disappointed with the decision, being of the opinion that an equitable adjustment of the claims might have been made.