NEW GOVERNMENT BILLS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12581, 30 September 1908, Page 7

NEW GOVERNMENT BILLS.

(From Our Parliamentary Special. — By Telegraph).

WELLINGTON, September 30. A batch of pew Government Bills was introduced just before the House rose thib morning. A lon<* and comprehensive measure deals with the Public Service Superannuation Funds. Its objects are fourfold, viz., to substitute in place of the present superannuation scheme for the education service a scheme similar to that established for the public service, to place the police force in the same position as the rest of the public service, to make certain miscellaneous amendments in the superannuation scheme for the public service, and to make provisions respecting broken time in tho railway service. The differences between the education service and the public service are such that it is impracticable to include them in the same scheme. The Superannuation Bill therefore preserves the separate existence of the Teachers' Superannuation Board and the fund, and contains all provisions applicable to teachers* (superannuation. The retiring allowance for contributors is based on the tinal salary instead of on the average salary during the period of service. Existing contributors will count the whole of the back service instead of only one half as at present. An annual subsidy of ,£7OOO is provided for the Teachers' Superannuation Fund, corresponding to a subsidy of £20,000 provided by the Act of 1907 for the Public Scrvica Superannuation Fund. The Police Provident Fund is transferred io the Public Service Superannuation Fund. All persons hereafter appointed to the police force are to become contributors to the Public Service S. peranj;uat.on Fund on the same terms as other public servants, and are to be deemed original contributors. A Government subsidy of i' 20,000 per annum is provided. Last year's contribution is increased by .£3OOO to meet additional expenditure imposed on the fund by the inclusion of the police force. Last year's Act provided that all temporary officers already appointed should, after five years' service, become permanent, and that no temporary appointment made after passing that Act should continue more than six months. These provisions do not apply to the Po.st and Telegraph Department, and this Bill now makes the same provision as to it.

THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES SUPEKANNUATION- BILL. gives local bodies power to establish superannuation funds. The fund shall be vested in the Public Trustee, and iho local authority must pay the amount into the fund calculated as a percent.vp of the total contributions pai dinto the Hind during that year. The scale of contributions is fixed as follows: — Five per cent, if the contributor's age doe-* not exceed 30 years at the time when the first contributions become payable; six per cent, if the age exceeds 30 years, but does not exceed 35 ycara; seven per cent, if the age exceeds 35 years butdoesnot exceed 40 years; eight j:er cent, if the age exceeds 40 years but does not exceed 45 years; nine per cent, if the age exceeds 45 years but does not fxceed 50 years; and HI per cent, if ajje then exceeds 50 years. Every male contributor whose service is not less than 40 years or whose age is not less than 65, and overy female contributor whose service is not less than 30 years and whose age i» not less than 55, shall be entitled on retiring to receive from the fund an annual retiring allowance for the rest of his liio, computed as follows: For every year ot the contributor's service the contributor shall receive one-sixtieth of his or her annual salary, but in no case shall the retiring allowance exceed two-thirds of that salary. THE NAVAL SUBSIDIES BILL provides for the annual payment of ,£lOO,OOO towards the maintenance of the Imperial Navy. THE INFANTS AMENDMENT BILL provides that moneys expended by the Crown in respect to -infants maintained in foster homes are to constitute a debt duo by the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board oi' the district in which the home is situated. THE OLD AGE PENSIONS AMENDMENT BILL. reduces to a year the period during which applicants must have led sober and reputabel lives. The interest in a life insurance policy or annuity is not to be deemed accumulated property. The value of a residence which by transference to the administration ot the Public Trustee may enable a person to claim a pension is raised from .£3OO to .£650. Though the estimate of an applicant's financial circumstances is to be based on the preceding year, the Magistrate may take into consideration the applicant's prospects for the coming year. The clause in the existing law enabling a pension to be modified, or cancelled is altered to allow of it being cancelled or varied, that is, it may be increased. A pension may be cancelled if a pensioner becomes an habitual criminal or ii» convicted of an offence dishonouring him in the public estimation. Asiatics, whether British subjects by birth or not, are excluded from the benefits of the Act.

During the month ending to-day 44 births were registered by Mr C. E. Hylton, registrar, 38 being in the town and suburbs, and 6in the country. The total for September of last year was also 44. The deaths during the month totalled 18, of which 10 were in the town, 6 in the Hospital, and 2 in the country. The total for the corresponding month of last year was 9. The marriages totaled 12, as against 4 only for last September. Of the former total the registrar celebrated 5, the Catholic Church 4, and the Presbyterian Church 3. For the first nine months of this year there have been 401 births registered, an increase of 86 as compared with the first nine months of last year; the deaths total 123, a decrease of 15 over the 1907 period, and the marirages 138, an increase of 1.