Lieut.-Colonel CLAYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what would be the pension on which a certificated school teacher would retire after 25 years' service under the Bill of 1918; what would be the actuarial value of the teacher's contributions under the School Teachers (Superannuation) Bill, 1922, over the same period; and how does this pension compare with that of a civil servant with similar service and salary?
§ Mr. FISHERI have been asked to reply to this question. Under the School Teachers (Superannuation) Act, 1918, a certificated teacher who retires after 25 years (not necessarily continuous) in recognised service would be eligible, subject to certain qualifying conditions, to receive from the age of 60, even if retiring voluntarily from actual teaching at an earlier age, an annual allowance equal to 25-eightieths of the average salary of his last five years of recognised service, together with a lump sum equal to 25-thirtieths of that salary. The annual pension and lump sum awarded to a male civil servant with the same period of service would normally be at the same rates, based either upon the actual final salary or on the average salary for the last three years, according to circumstances; but in the case of women the pension would be 25-sixtieths per annum without a lump sum, this being the old rate of pension for all civil servants alike, which was replaced in the case of men by an actuarial equivalent expressed in terms of eightieths and thirtieths, as stated above, with alternative death benefits as in the case of teachers. In the case of all civil servants the service given must have been continuous service, and in the direct em- 71W ployment of the Crown, and remunerated throughout entirely out of the Consolidated Fund or moneys provided by Parliament; and voluntary retirement before the age of 60, except in cases of permanent ill-health involves the sacrifice of all pension rights. The actuarial value of the contributions of a particular teacher under the Bill cannot be estimated except in terms of a particular salary or scale of salary and would vary from case to case according to the length of back service and in other respects.