SUPERANNUATION.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13291, 21 May 1907, Page 6

SUPERANNUATION.

THE RAILWAY I'L'XD

To the Kditor of the " Tiniaru Herald." b'ir.—Yoar article I have read in Saturday's iS'-ue. Yon, no more than myself, the Minister, or his advisers, can assertthat the railway superannuation fund i.i in an insolvent state and likely to ask the taxpayers of the colony ti> have to pay toll for any shortcomings that may eventuate in the dim and distant- future. In my letter I gave you the authority and hail, that tha railway scheme was founde I on, and which experience has proved to be such a success that the "Ihe Clearing House Fund" purpose increasing the benetits to their contributors. The men are satisfied if not. interfered with in the carrying out of their fund by having as I previously remarked to make themselves liable for compensation claims to memb.rj and their wives. computed by those who have a knowledge at apprtw;mately £30,000. which was never intended, as instanced by the law suit mention <i, that they will have the experience of the ttvitish Railway Superannuation Board, upon which the contributions and benefit:are baaed and be able to either inert.:- e the benefits or lower the contributions. It in without, a doubt an ironical instruction or piece of advice- to the men to tell the:r to stand by the fund as at present r >i, ftituted. This is what they air- now doitiLr with the result that already two great in roads have been made towards redtn it.;; their accumulated funds. and which n:r' not anticipated by those who formula:->! the scheme and those members wlto did j their pari, by levying toll upon themseh to the amount already named. The depaunres I refer to of the original Act. are thpayment for service rendered t'ridr th. 1 i t,\ :.iid t lie . of compensation daim-i for thos. (atvi:F>

or their widows entitled thereto. It is little use, it apjiears, endeavouring to obtain some recognition for those men who lost their continuity of service thVough the maritime strike, in spite of the fact that the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants offered the sum of £IOOO to buy back the lost service of theso very deserving men. Their offer is curtly refused, and no suggestion is made as to what amount will suffice to satisfy the Fund. And this in these days of Liberalism, and upon the wave of labour storm and tempest the present party rode upon its crest and weie landed into office and power ;cnd have remained there ever since.

„ The possibilities you mention, that what has happened to the pension system may happen to the railway fund, are just as unlikely as that- the moon may be turned into a green cheese. The systems are in no way parallel, and therefore there is no need for any sympathy, anticinatd or otherwise, but rather should your appreciation extend to those men who have so nobly taxed themselves, and made that provision thai will prevent them becoming State pensionerg under the old age pension fund,' if the fund is not shipwrecked by the State filching from its coffers to pay their own just liabilities. Best assured that neither upon probability supposition nor any other conjectural ideas of your own, the Minister advises, or those who may look with jealous eyes upon a large body of men, who are, in the trite aphorism of Smiles " Heaven helps them who help themselves."

To prove how actuaries may be mi-led in arriving at a basis of calculation—For instance widows re-marrying saved th« fund last year an annual liability of some £3OO. The age of the British Board is fixed (upon which the railway, scheme is b;ised) at 65 veal's for retiring, tho N.Z. scheme at 60, and the advanced age yefc leaves a" large surplus. Other fortuitous circumstances occur that benefit the fund such as members who have lived a strenuous life and who, upon retiring, are so near their appointed end as to live for a vers- Oiorfc time after superannuation. It is quite time to call

" Wolf' when there is a likelihood of its approach. So far there is no likelihood of the taxpayer having to foot the bill for the railway men's pension fund, as its foundation is proved to be on sure ground. I am, etc., MAKIKIHI.