§ Adjourned Debate on Amendment proposed on Consideration of Bill, as amended [28th July], (By Order.)
3§ Which Amendment was in Article XI., Sub-section (2), at the end of paragraph (b), to insert:
§ "For the purposes of Part XVIII. of the Act of 1900 teachers who, at the commencement of this Order, are, or hereafter shall be, permanently and exclusively employed by the Corporation as the local education authority for the borough, or are permanently and exclusively employed in, any public elementary school in the borough (whether provided by the Corporation as the local education authority or not), or are permanently and exclusively employed in any school, college, or hostel provided by the Corporation as the local education authority for the purpose of Part II. of the Education Act, 1902 (and any such teacher is in this section called 'the teacher'), shall be deemed, if the Corporation in their discretion think fit, to be persons in the employment of the Corporation whom, or some of whom (according to their qualifications or conditions of service or otherwise) the Corporation may, in their discretion, determine to be a class or classes of persons entitled to contribute to and participate in the benefit of any fund established under the provisions of the Act of 1900, and upon any such determination such provisions shall apply accordingly.
§ Provided that in exercising their discretion under this section the Corporation shall not differentiate between classes of teachers on the ground alone that any such class is composed of persons employed in public elementary schools provided by them or in public elementary schools not so provided, or of persons who were, before the commencement of this Order, employed in the existing borough, or of persons employed in the added area.
- (a) In the application of the Act of 1900 to any teacher to whom the Elementary School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1898 (in this section called "the Act of 1898"), applies, the amount of the superannuation allowance to be made to the teacher upon retirement under the provisions of the Act of 1900 shall be complementary to the amount of the deferred annuity to which the teacher is entitled and to the superannuation allowance which may be granted to the teacher under the Act of 1898 (in this section hereinafter called "the benefits under the Act of 1898"), and the salary or wages
4 in respect of which he shall contribute to and receive an annual allowance from the superannuation fund under the provisions of the Act of 1900 shall be so much (if any) of the actual salary or wages for the time being receivable by him as remains after deducted from that last-named salary or wages a sum equal to one and a half times the amount of the benefits under the Act of 1898 receivable by him, provided that the total amount of the contributions to be so made by him shall be at such rate or rates per centum per annum on the salary or wages calculated as aforesaid as the corporation, acting on the advice of an actuary (being a Fellow either of the Institute of Actuaries or of the Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland), shall determine to be proper, so that the total amount of the contributions made by the teacher at the time when he becomes entitled to an annual allowance from the superannuation fund shall be nearly as may be bear the same ratio to the amount of such allowance as the total amount of the contributions made at the like time by any other officer or servant admitted to the benefits of the Act of 1900 with a like service shall bear to the amount of the annual allowance receivable by that officer or servant; - (b) For the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Sub-section the Corporation shall by Resolution from time to time determine the amount of the benefits under the Act of 1898, and prescribe a scale determining the rate or rates of contribution aforesaid;
- (c) If at any time hereafter under the Act of 1898, or by reason of the passing of any general Act of Parliament, whether in this or in any subsequent Session of Parliament or otherwise, the benefits under the provisions of the Act of 1898, or otherwise, shall be materially increased, the Corporation shall by an amending resolution make such provision as shall be necessary to meet the altered circumstances, and by that Resolution shall provide for the return to the teacher or the credit to him in respect of future contributions to the superannuation fund of the amount of any payments made by him to that fund in respect of service before the date of the amending Resolution in respect of any part, proportion, or amount of his salary or wages in excess of the part, proportion, or amount in respect of which,
5 as determined by the said amending Resolution, he will thereafter be entitled to contribute to and receive an annual allowance from the superannuation fund; - (d) No part of any benefit or superannuation allowance received by any teacher from the superannuation fund shall be deemed to be paid out of or received from public money within the meaning of the 1898 Act or any rules made thereunder or otherwise."—[Sir James Yoxall.]
§ Question again proposed, "That those words be there inserted in the Bill."
§ Debate resumed.
§ Mr. BOOTHThis is a combined Order which relates to both Cambridge and Southport. I want to deal with that portion relating to Southport only. The Southport Corporation is a body which is worthy of the greatest respect, and adjoining Southport is the urban district of Birkdale. This Amendment is made necessary in the interests of the teachers, and I want to call attention to what I consider to be a very grave position. There have been introduced into the Order a number of compensations for various interests, but the teachers, as very often is the case, have been neglected. I am in a position to tell the House that this whole scheme is at present a matter of the most acute controversy. There was formed in the urban district of Birkdale a bogus ratepayers' association to take these matters in hand—so is my information—and this bogus association was financed, so it is alleged, by people interested in the Bill from the Southport side, and they have done with them what it is proposed to do with the teachers. Immediately any interested parties appear, they try to square them. I do not say this bargain is corrupt, but I do say certain of the others, of which this is a direct consequence, are corrupt. There is a correspondence going on in the Press of that district and charges of the gravest character are made. I do ask the House, therefore, to pause before they sanction a scheme of this kind. The old Birkdale School Board obtained a considerable amount of prominence—
§ Mr. SPEAKERI understood the hon. Member was using his influence in support of the Amendment. If he opposes it the Amendment must go over.
§ Mr. SPEAKERI beg pardon. I thought the hon. Member was supporting it.
Debate further adjourned till To-morrow (Tuesday) at a quarter-past Eight of the clock.