TEACHERS' SUPERANNUATION

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 33

TEACHERS' SUPERANNUATION

RETIRING AGES MADE COMPULSORY. At the Education Board on the 21st fast., in accordance with notice of motion, Mr W. Scott moved — " That after 31st day of December, 1909, all teachers and servants of the board who have reached the retiring ago under ' The Publio Service Classification and Superannuation Act, 1908,' shall be coinpulsorih- retired. " Letters were read by the secretary showing that the executive <jf tho School Committees' Association and the Educational Institute favoured the proposal contained in the motion. M°r Scott, in speaking to his motion, •aid he was satisfied that every member of ti*e lx?a.j-<J an-c} everyone vt Jjo ha<] tlj-e- l>e=st interests of ■education ab heart would support the motion ; otherwise, if this retirement Were not marie compulsory the superannuation scheme would be robbed of one of the most vital principles connected with it. Educationalists demanded it, and teachers asked for two things : First, that provision be made for teachers in their old <u;e; and second, that opportunities hf given for more rapid promotion. If teachers were to be allowed to remain in the service of the board at their own sweet will much of the usefulness of the scheme would be lost. The service would suffer, end promotion would be unduly hindered. and it Lad therefore been decid-ed that there could be no halfway course. Retire^ inenfc must be either voluntary or cornpuleory. There wero teachers who, from a selfish standpoint, would prefer to remain Jong in the service after their retiring- ago was reached, and if this were permitted other teachers would be greatly handicapped and a blow would bs struck at the efficiency of the service. Therefore, as no discrimination could be made, retiring must, be made •compulsory. W.hen the act first came into force he,£abled a motion mating retirement compulsory, But on further inquiry ho found that th» retiring allowance •"was so paltry, being then only on the basis of 120 th of the total salary, that he had not the heart to go on with the matter, and at once withdrew tha motion. Now, junrW tho present act, tho allowance -Amounted to one 60th, which was jutt rouble that originally -provid-ed for. and. in Bus opinion, o. liberal retiring allowance. '-As' the total salary of tho person going on <tlio fund \vaa calculated as from 1878, tho retiring allowance would be 32-60 th of that ! — or a little more than half his present, salary. Ho did not think there would bo serious complaints from the body of teachers concerned. The oldor men would only pay (for a few years, a.nd then would retire on n satisfactory allowance, the burden of which fell on the younger teaeheTS, and th-* fact that the latter were ready to acoept lhat burden and practically provide superannuation for the older men showod how ! urgently the scheme was needed. This echemo had been strongly supported by the Otsgo Educational Institute, by tho School Committees' Association, and by the pro-s> ' ©f the Dominion, and all realised that this ' echeme was going to be robb&d of its use- j fulness unless retirement was made com- ! pulsory. It was necessary to make the ' scheme compulsory, and he held that tho ' board had power under the act to take this ; course. ! 31 r Snow : We have not the power. Mr Scott: I think we have. Mr Snow : Oh, well, I say we have aot. Mr Scott went on to quote lesral authorities. Tho only question which they had i;ow to consider was whether there was a valid reason for the board retiring its teachers. They krrew that under ordinary circumstances they had to run the gauntlet of the Court of Appeal. If, under the superannuation scheme, they decided to retire their servants, the Court of Appeal j ooulu" not oppose them, because they had j en act there which set a limit to the ages ' of their servants. I Mr Israel seconded the motion. He px- | piessed great diffidence in doing so. be- i cause he knew that it would be hard on a ' ■few servants. But, he pointed out. th»» whole basis of the original scheme which lie had helped the teachers to draw up w;ts to provide a sufficient allowance to make it ' possible to retire everyone ut the age fixed. Ho certainly thought, therefoio, that som*» limit should be sot to tho agos of thoir servants. They would havo to pa»-* this mot>ion, as Wellington had done, and though ! its passing would press hard on one or 'wo I servants, there would be much greater hardship on a much larger number if it was not passed. j Afc Mr Borrie's request the Chairman i read a legal opinion that had been obtained concerning this matter, and further discus- J sion ensued. Mr Borrie said he was of opinion that retirement by teachers \\a« entirely voluntary on thei.. 1 part, and that tho board ( did not have power to compel retirement. | He said he believed that he knew the rea- I son why this was so. He had been m SVelUnfrton, and forinod one of a deputation talking to the Prime Minister, when this very subject came up It was pointed out to Sir Joseph that there was doubt ! , whether tho fimpuleory clauses applied to ' J the old servants who had been in the ser- ! ' vice before the passing of the act. Sir , \ 'Joseph had then said that those clauecs i were never intended to apply to them, and j ( that ho would see that the act was amended. | • •For this reason tho speaker did not think j 1 that tho board had tho power to enforce J 1 retirement. t The Chairman: Do you mean to say that ! r the Prime Minister gave you to understand c

that a teacher could remain in the service until ho was 90 years of age if he so desired? Mr Borrio : The matter was not discussed. Mr Fraser : Do you mean to say that the Prime Minister told you that all teachers ' v, ho were in the service four years ago cannot be retired? Why, this act would then be tied up and practically dead ! 1 Mr Borrie said he considered that tho j Prime Minister had earned out his pro1 mise by framing the acts as he had. ! Mr Israel : An imxiossibTe position, j Mr Mitchell supported the motion. He I believed that it was in accord with tha j intention of the Legislature, and certainly I it was in tho best interests of education, j since it would induce the brightest young j men to enter the teaching profession. A number of tho schools were suffering because of the ptesence of teachers who wore lorg past the period of usefulness, and that oeing so he did not feel that he could, ay a member of the board, give any fuither sanction to such a position \yhen Parlia nient had made ample provision for tho retirement of these teachers, and put thorn in a position to live for the rest of their lhes in comfort, while at the same time opening the door for younger men. In j such a matter as this, he considered first of I all tho interests of the children, and, 1 eeeon'iary to that, he placed the interests lof the teachers. As for the argument that the teacher who came into the service be- ; foie the pa.^sing of the act should be j exempt, it was not tenable. Such a teacher : had the option of joining the scheme or refusing to join it. Once he did join it ' iic accepted the whole of its obligations as well as its benefits. The speaker knew that some hardship would be done to cer- | tain employees and teach?rs, but was per- | fectly satisfied that not to pass the motion i was to do a greater injustice to the chilJ dren of the province. Mr M'Kerrow opposed the motion. .Mr Flomin? supported the motion. j Those affected by it immediately would have had to retire in a few years anyhow, and [ w ithoufc the scheme they would not haveenjoyed a pension fund, to which they had had to contribute but little. They were indebtsd to Mr Scott for bringing this motion forward, for it was certainly required. Mr -Snow said he did not think it was either rijht or fair to make this thing compulsory. There were elderly teachers in the service quite able to continue teach- ' ing, and since they wished to do so, why wero they not permitted so to do? The Rc\ . Mr Fras^r also favoured the motion. But ho considered that it wae a disgraceful Huntr that the Government had , made it neoe^saiy for the board to pass i suc-h a motion. It had hern nuite evident j | v, hen tho matter came before' Parliament j i v. hat tho intention was and that a schoino j wilh voluntary rot.'romcnt whore <-o largo j an allow anc? v. a.s made would be a stulti- j lication of itself. Influence mu«t ha\e ! be&n brought to bear upon the Go\em- ' ment to alter the intention of making ro- i lirement compulsory ; it was not a fair j tiling to have thrust the necessity of passI ing such a motion upon a provincial board, i His fe;lings wero entirely with Mr Borrie and Mr Snow about turning away old eerj a ants but, in was impossible to make dis- ! tinctions between thc6e who were fit at 165 and those who were unfit. If he could t hue joined them with any reasonable j evni'-e he would have done so, but ho had to voto for <he motion. It would inflict ! hardship, peihaps inju«lico, on many ex- i cellent, servants of the board, but in the ' public service there was no way of mak- | ing a fine distinction between those who ; obviously should retire and those who were still fit for a few years' more work. The Chairman said that for several reasons he was going to voto for the motion. What was •applicable in other branches of j the Government service should be applicable in the Education Department, particularly so because with thorn lay the re- ! sponsibility of having to train children. I And the compulsory retiring age was in | I vogue in e\cry other department. Most I j 'uen were roady to retire at 65 — ho was an I exceptional man who was not. In one way • T he teachers were being made to sufter a | hardship which every other branch of the I service was immune from. In 'counting- ' >eais of s-rvieo they could not count those ser\cd under the Pmvincial Go\ eminent, fprvicv for pension puiposos counted only ' from the period of a colonial Government. This was a crroat injustice to tho servants of education. — (Mr Scott"Hoar, hear.") Unless rho ietinn«r ai<e was compulsory a r-piiain amount ' of favomitisin, followed by di^-ontont i would crre|) m Although h<> por-onaUy ] much regretted ilu n-'co^-irv foi tho step, ' ho felt that ho had no alternative — ho mu«-t Aoto for tho motion. ! The motion ua, cairicd, the dm^on L'P'ng as under:— ; Foi — Mo=srh Fergus. Mitclvll, Fktniiip, ' Israel. Scott, and Fia<-r>r (6), .m.-imst - , Mossis Snow, Borrio, and M'K«--irow (3)