RETIRED CIVIL SERVANTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17909, 13 October 1932, Page 6

RETIRED CIVIL SERVANTS

SUPERANNUATION PAYMENTS OPPOSITION TO REDUCTION A meeting of about 200 superannuated civil servants in Christchurch determined on the fullest possible resistance if the Government proposes to give effect.to the National Expenditure Commission’s recommendation involving a reduction in superannuation payments. If cuts are contemplated those in, Christchurch receiving superannuation represented at the meeting intend to contribute to n “lighting fund,” which will enable the matter to be fought out in the courts, even before the Privy Council is necessary. The meeting appointed Mr. W. 11. Hagger, formerly conciliation commissioner in Christchurch, to discuss the situation with a committee of superannuated civil servants in Wellington. It was stated at the meeting that the late 'Sir Charles Skcrrett, former Chief Justice of New Zealand, had given it as his opinion that the Government was under a bond in the mats ter of superannuation, and could not alter the original superannuation agreement.

The meeting rejected a suggestion: that the Government be asked not to reduce superannuation payments of £2OO a year or less, standing out for no reductions at all. It was contended that those receiving superannuation, considering the sums which civil servants had paid into the fund, were entitled to press for the full returns provided for.