third classes receive small gratuities, the total gratuity for each family ranging from £8 to £50 ($38.93 to $243.33). (a)

A gratuity of £1 ($4.87), or one week's pay for each year of service, is paid under clause 4 of the act, on retirement, to persons not forming part of the permanent civil service but engaged temporarily. Those who have the benefit of this provision include a great many hired laborers of the dockyards serving under the War Office.

LAW UNDER SUPERANNUATION ACTS OF 1834, 1859, 1887.

A paper prepared for the information of the Ridley Commission in 1888 by Sir Reginald Welby gives a complete survey of the provisions of the three great superannuation acts in force, the acts of 1834, 1859, and 1887. The paper is here reproduced: (*)

1. The grant of superannuation allowances to persons in the permanent or established civil service of the Crown is regulated by the Acts

4 & 5 Will. 4. c. 24. (Superannuation Act of 1834) 22 Vict., c. 26.

50 & 51 Vict., c. 67.

66

"1859 1887

For practical purposes the two latter statutes only need be considered. The greater portion of the Act of Will. 4. has been repealed, and the sections which are still in force are of an unimportant char

acter.

2. In order to qualify a civil servant for the grant of superannuation allowance, he must

(a) if appointed since the passing of the Act of 1859, have been admitted to the service with a certificate from the civil service commissioners, or hold an office specially excepted from this requirement; (b) have given his whole time to the public service;

(c) draw the emoluments of his office from public funds exclusively; (d) have served for upwards of 10 years;

(e) if under the age of 60, be certified to be permanently incapable from infirmity of mind or body from discharging his official duties; or have been removed from his office on the ground of his inability to discharge his duties efficiently.

(f) be certified to have served with diligence and fidelity to the satisfaction of the head of his department.

3. The scale of superannuation allowance is, for each completed year of service, 1/60 of the emoluments enjoyed by the civil servant at the date of his retirement, subject to a maximum of 40/60. If the civil servant has not held his office for three years, then the pension is calculated upon the average of his emoluments during the last three

years.

Extra pension is granted to civil servants living in official houses. For the purpose of such pension the value of a house is reckoned at

a For warrant regulating the grant of gratuities and allowances under section 1 of the Superannuation Act, 1887, see Appendix IV.

Second Report of Commission on Civil Establishments. 1888. Appendix, pp. 415 and 416.

one-sixth of the resident's salary, but in order to establish claim to pension in respect of a house it must be shown that income tax has been paid upon the house.

4. Pensions may be granted at a reduced rate if the misconduct or demerits of the officer appear to the Treasury to justify such a reduction.

5. Pensions may also be granted in excess of the usual scale

(a) if the retiring civil servant has rendered any special services in the course of his career.

Such awards are of very rare occurrence, and are only made when the special services have been extraordinary in kind, and such as could not be considered as falling within the scope of the officer's ordinary duties.

(b) if the civil servant is compelled to retire in consequence of an injury sustained in the actual discharge of his duty, without his own default, and specifically attributable to the nature of his duty. The scale of such pensions is prescribed by a warrant made under s. 1. of 50 & 51 Vict., c. 67. A special pension can in no case exceed the amount of the annual emoluments of the office from which the civil servant retires.

(c) if the civil servant has served in a place which has been declared by the Treasury, under 39 & 40 Vict., c. 53, to be an "unhealthy" place. In such cases two years' service counts as three.

6. A higher pension than could be obtained by the scale mentioned in par. 3 can also be awarded to the holders of offices requiring professional or other peculiar qualifications not ordinarily to be acquired in the public service. The amount of the pension in such cases is arrived at by adding to the years of the officer's actual service a number of years varying with the nature of the office and the amount of time which may be expected to be necessary to qualify the holder for the due discharge of its duties.

7. When a civil servant is compelled by ill health to retire before he has completed ten years' service, he may receive a gratuity of one month's pay for each year of service.

8. Any pensioner under 60 years of age may, if his health permits it, be required to serve again in any position for which his previous services may render him eligible.

9. If a civil servant is killed in the execution of his duty, a pension may be awarded to his widow and children, the amount of which is regulated by the warrant referred to under par. 5 (b).

10. A civil servant whose office is abolished, or who is compulsorily removed from the service, in order to facilitate arrangements by which greater economy and efficiency may be secured, may receive a compensation allowance, calculated on the same scale as if he were qualified for a pension (see par. 3), but with the addition to his actual service of a number of years varying with the length of such service, as follows:

Under 5 years' service, addition of 1 year. Above 5 and under 10, addition of 3 years. 10 and under 15, addition of 5 years. 15 and under 20, addition of 7 years. 20, addition of 10 years.

11. Persons not forming part of the permanent civil service, but engaged temporarily, are not entitled to superannuation allowance, but receive on retirement or discharge a gratuity of £1 [$4.87] or one week's pay, for each year of service.

If, however, such a person is injured or killed in the discharge of his duty, a pension or gratuity may be awarded to him or his relatives as provided in the warrant referred to in par. 5 (b).

12. It should be added that the members of the diplomatic service and the members of the Royal Irish Constabulary are entitled to pensions calculated according to the rates laid down in the Acts 32 & 33 Vict., c. 43 and 46 Vict., c. 14, respectively; and that the award of pensions to the holders of certain high political offices is provided for by 32 & 33 Vict., c. 60. Pensions are also granted under special acts, 1865, 1872, and 1887 to colonial governors.

Note. The Act 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 24 directed that a deduction should be made from the salaries of civil servants who entered the service after the 29th August, 1829, as a contribution towards pension; this deduction amounted to 24 per cent on salaries under £100 [$486.65], and to 5 per cent on salaries of £100 [$486.65] and more. The deduction was abolished by the Act 20 & 21 Vict., c. 37.

It will be noted that the first qualification for a pension is the possession of a civil service certificate. That is a document issued by the Civil Service Commissioners certifying to the age, health, character, and education or other personal qualifications of the individual who receives it. A person may be an employee of the Government and not be pensionable, but as soon as he becomes "established," as the phrase is, he becomes pensionable. This occurs on examination or on appointment by the head of the department and the issue of the civil service certificate. In several branches, especially in the dockyards, there are a great many persons regarded as servants who are not established, but who may, after a time, become so. It is interesting to note that before issuing a certificate the Civil Service Commission subjects the candidate to a severe physical examination in order to lessen the chances of his early application for pension.

There are two exceptions to the rule requiring pensionable members of the public service to have certificates from the Civil Service Commission. Officers appointed directly by the Crown, as for instance, some commissioners and heads of departments, are exempted from the necessity of holding certificates from the Civil Service Commission. Officers appointed for their special professional qualifications are also exempted from the necessity of having certificates from the commission by virtue of Section IV of the act, which says that persons of "professional or other peculiar qualifications" may be entitled to superannuation, though they may not hold their appointments directly from the Crown, and may not have entered the service with a certificate from the Civil Service Commissioners. (a)

a See Sec. IV, Act of 1859, Appendix II.

35885-S. Doc. 290, 61-2- -10*

The qualifications that the pensioner must have given his whole time to the public service and been paid out of public funds do not exclude any persons who would ordinarily be regarded as civil servants. The first excludes, for instance, auxiliary or supernumerary postmen. who may be cobblers or blacksmiths by trade and choose to eke out their incomes by devoting certain hours of the day to the distribution of the mail, having only one or two deliveries.

If the qualification in regard to the indorsement from the head of the department is not complied with, the full amount of the pension is not granted the civil servant. The Treasury makes a reduction according as the circumstances of the case may seem to warrant. A principal clerk of the Treasury before the Courtney Commission in 1903 said: "There are a fair number of cases in which a small deduction is made, say, not more than ten per cent. The cases in which a greater deduction than that is made are rare."

The fifth qualification as to length of service is very specific. The service must not be less than ten years, unless the holder retires on abolition or reorganization of office.

The sixth qualification for pension relates to the grounds for retirement from the service. The chief of these is attainment of the age of 60, the age chosen by the framers of the Act of 1859 as the age for voluntary superannuation. For the officer under 60 there were originally two conditions (now three) on which retirement on a pension was possible. They were: (1) in case of physical or mental infirmity, and (2) in case his place had been abolished on reorganization.

In case of ill health the officer is able to retire on a pension, provided he has been ten years in the service and the infirmity is cer tified as likely to be permanent. If he has been less than ten years in the service when he retires on account of ill health, he receives instead of a pension a gratuity of one month's pay for each year of service. If the invalidity pensioner recovers, the pension is not withdrawn except in the event of his declining reemployment in the public service if it is offered him. The power of recalling him to the public service is, however, in practice rarely exercised. He is free to follow whatever pursuits his condition may permit. The number of retirements for ill health short of 60 years of age is numerous. Of 14,185 civil servants retired with pensions during the ten years ending the 30th of November, 1901, 7,093 were retired for age, 6,585 for ill health, and 507 for abolition of office.

The Act of 1859 made retirement on a pension voluntary at the age of 60. It is now optional at the age of 60 and compulsory at the age of 65, but the Treasury is permitted to allow a retention in employment up to an age not exceeding 70, if satisfied that an officer's retirement at 65 would be detrimental to the service. This

regulation was established by clause 18 of order in council dated November 29, 1898.

Power was given to the Treasury by the Superannuation Act of 1859 not only to make a deduction from the full award of pension in case of misconduct or demerit, but also to award pensions in excess of the usual scale as a reward for special services, and to holders of professional offices, appointed at an age exceeding that at which public service ordinarily begins. In the case of officers required to possess professional or other special qualifications not ordinarily to be acquired in the public service the law provides that years not exceeding twenty may be added to the actual service for the purpose of calculating the pension. In practice an addition of ten years has been the maximum (except in very special cases), and since December 20, 1888, when a Treasury minute to that effect was passed, the power to add years has not been exercised in respect of any newly created offices.

COURTNEY COMMISSION, 1902.

The agitation begun by the civil servants soon after the passage of the law of 1859 for a change in the pension system continued down to the present year (1909). Since the present inquiry began, that agitation has resulted in the legislative enactment of September 20, 1909, which undertakes to overcome the objection of the civil servants to the forfeiture of their theoretical contributions, in case of premature death, by providing insurance benefits in lieu of a part of the pension. This constitutes in effect, as will be shown, an important modification of the whole theory underlying the pension system. This parliamentary action was based on recommendations made by a royal commission, of which the Right Hon. Leonard Henry Courtney was chairman, appointed in 1902, "to inquire whether it is possible so to amend the existing system of superannuation of persons in the civil service of the State as to confer greater and more uniform advantages upon those to whom it applies without increasing the burden which it imposes on the taxpayer."

APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSION DUE TO "DEFERRED PAY" COM

MITTEE.

This commission was appointed in response to a request for its nomination from a body of civil-service clerks organized under the name of the "Deferred Pay Committee." A memorial signed by 50,000 of their number (the membership increased soon after this to 60,000 or 70,000) was addressed by them to the Treasury asking that, as there was a considerable difference between their view of the existing pension system and the Government's view, the Government