The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1907. SUPERANNUATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13289, 18 May 1907, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, MAY 18, 1907. SUPERANNUATION.

It is quite possible, as a correspondent tells us tliis morning, that we were not fully acquainted with the facts of the case when we said the other day that the railway superannuation fund was in danger of becoming a tax upon the State. We candidly confess our inability to handle the intricate calculations involved in :•. scheme of this sort, even if we possessed the data required by the mathematical specialists whose business in life it is to deal with these questions. But wo made it quite clear in our first article on the subject that the assertion to which our correspondent objects was not made upon our own authority; the statement was in no way our own. -It was the statement of the Minister for Railways, who was guided, no doubt, by the experts employed by the Government to advise them in regard to superannuation fundis and similar subjects. ,We daresay that Mr Hall-Jones is no more qualified than we are ourselves—or possibly than our correspondent is—either to guarantee or to impeach the stability of the railway superannuation fund. He has men at his command, however, who are so qualified, and wo have little doubt that he had a full report from them before he committed himself to the statement that the fund, as now constituted, would not be equal to the demands it has to meet. So that there may be no mistake about the Minister's words, we quote from an official report of an inter- < view between Mr Hall-Jones and the i Executive of the Amalgamated Society of | Railway Servants, at which amendments to the superannuation fund were suggested ' by the representatives of the service. Mr Hall- Jbnes said :—/

"You have to be very careful in what you are doing with the superannuation fund. I am satisfied that the present contributions will not meet the charges, and, the State will have to subsidise the fund to a very great extent. I mention this because I consider that if you increase the benefits under the Act, it will be necessary, to also increase the contributions. I would advise the members of • the service to stand by the fund as at present constituted." In other words, the Minister told the men that they have • a very excellent bargain which they had better not attempt to vary, lest the State should take the opportunity of evening up its side of the contract. Later in the interview he again impressed this view upon the deputation. "As I said before," he repeated, " there is no doubt that, the State will have to .supplement the superannuation fund to a very great extent. -If you enlarge the 'scope of the Act, it will be necessary to increase the contributions. The contract which the State has entered into will be m kept, but if you increase the scope of thu Act, and have to increase the contributions of present members, you will be treading on dangerous ground. The older men are gradually leaving the service, and very shortly you will have those in the fund who are only paying 3 per cent." Now whatever purpose Mr Hall-Jones may have had in his mind when he uttered these warnings against any attempt to tamper.with the fund, the fact remains that on .his admission the State—or the general taxpayer—will in time 'have to eome to ita assistance. What is likely to be the result as regards the members of the railway service? Existing contracts will, as Mr Hall-Jones said, undoubtedly be kept, just as existing contracts in respect to retiring pensions are kept. The pension system was knocked on the head years ago', because it was felt to be an injustice to the country, but civil servants who had acquired pension rights prior to the abolition of the system are still granted their pensions as they become due. But- as that class gradually decreases, the list of pensioners is diminishing until it will finally vanish. If Mr Hall-Jones is correct in the forecast he has made about the superannuation fund, ia there not a possibility that what has happened to the pension system will also happen to the superannuation system? We should be sony if such proved to be the case, for nobody can fail to appreciate the excellent effect which « superannuation scheme must produce upon any body of workers, but thati consideration 'make-, it all the more imperative that all these schemes should be guaranteed against shipwreck by establishment upon, a sound basis.