SHOULD BE REVIEWED

Southland Times, Issue 20001, 15 October 1926, Page 7

SHOULD BE REVIEWED

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION. STATEMENT BY MINISTER. Certain amendments in the law affecting Public Service superannuation were sought by a deputation which waited on the Minister in Charge of the Public Service Superannuation Department some time ago. The Minister (the Hon. W. Nosworthy) has now advised the Public Service Association that the matter is to- be gone into before the next session of Parliament. After stating that the association’s representations had been considered by Cabinet, Mr Nosworthy said that it was felt by Ministers that the time had arrived for a review of the whole question of superannuation, which was at present dealt with under a number of different schemes that were not entirely consistent with one another. “There is need for some coordination of the different funds,” he stated, “and the Government will obtain a report on this aspect of the matter and go into the whole question before next session. “In view of this decision, it was not deemed advisable to make any extensive amendment in the existing law this session, and when you called upon me recently I had no knowledge of any amendments having been prepared for either the teachers’ or the Public Service scheme. Apparently, however, a number of clauses had been drafted, and some of these were considered of sufficient importance to justify their inclusion in the Finance Bill now before Parliament. Only one of them embodied an amendment suggested to me by your association, and that was struck out in the House. I enclose a copy of the Bill as transmitted from the House to the Legislative Council. I regret, therefore, that so far as the amendments asked for by the deputation from your association are concerned, they must remain in abeyance pending a general review of the several superannuation schemes by a competent committee.”