15. Colonel FABERasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether half-pay and retired officers are subject to a 10 per cent. deduction as well as Income Tax reduction under 50 Vic., Superannuation Act, 1887, meaning a loss of £70. a year on a salary of £400; whether page 314, Royal Warrant, paragraphs 5 and 102, allow of the Treasury exempting civil 2063 salary; and whether officers are now being asked to refund money as far back as 1916 owing to the Regulations not having been known or acted upon?
§ Mr. BALDWIN (Joint Financial Secretary to the Treasury)Officers in receipt of half-pay and retired pay who accept a civil employment of profit under a public Department within the meaning of No. 4 of the rules under Section 6 of the Superannuation Act, 1887, are subject to a deduction of not less than 10 per cent. from the profits of such employment if the effective and non-effective pay together exceed £400 per annum. For the exact conditions of the deduction I must refer my lion. and gallant Friend to the rules, which are printed as an appendix to the Royal Warrant. The deduction is made from the profits of the civil employment only, not from the non-effective pay. The Treasury have power under Rule 5 to exempt certain kinds of employment from the operation of Rule 4. The deduction is made under statutory authority. If, therefore, in any case not falling under Rule 5 the deduction should have been omitted by oversight for a time it would be necessary, as soon as the mistake was found out, to recover retrospectively the amount over-issued.