TEACHERS ANXIOUS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 563, 17 September 1932, Page 21 (Supplement)

TEACHERS ANXIOUS.

Superannuation Fund in Bad Financial State.

Threatened with extinction because for over a year the capital of the fund ha* been used to meet current liabilities, the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund is being: anxiously watched by all those who, for years, have been forced to pay into it, and who now feel that they may receive no benefits from it. The executive of the New Zealand Educational Institute has addressed to all branches a communication on the published statement that the Government next session intends dealing with the State superannuation funds. The communication states that the condition of the teachers’ superannuation fund is very serious. The combined contributions of teachers and the interest earned do not meet the annual outgoings, and the extinction of the fund is threatened. The main factors contributing to the present condition of the fund are summed up as follows: The heavy burden of allowances paid for noncontributory service; failure of successive Governments to subsidise the funds as recommended by the actuary after his triennial investigations; the "Harden due to provision for early retirement, i.e., men at fifty-four and upwards, and women at forty-four and upwards; the liberality of amending Acts of Parliament; and the varying rates of salaries upon which percentages were paid, and the varying rates of interest earned. Teachers claimed that responsibility

for the situation lay almost entirely on the shoulders of successive Governments, which had ignored the reports and recommendations of their own actuaries.

The statement concluded by pointing out that any restrictions of benefits would inflict a serious injustice on contributors. *-