tures for the period January 1, 1885, to June 30, 1901, showed a balance on June 30, 1901, of £180,127 18s. 9d. ($876,592.61) as follows: DEFICIENCY IN SUPERANNUATION FUND STILL LARGE. The valuation balance sheet showing the present value of the deficiency on the same date to be £1,761,075 7s. 10d. ($8,570,273.39) was as follows: CIVIL SERVICE SUPERANNUATION FUND-VALUATION BALANCE SHEET AS AT JUNE 30, 1901. By fund as at June 30, 1901.. By value of future contributions of 4 By value of annual rate of £3,500 CR. $876, 592. 61 1, 109, 223. 82 48, 173. 48 425,818. 75 279,786. 28 8,570, 273. 39 11, 309, 868. 33 a Public Service Board. New South Wales (Supplement to Sixth Annual Report, with an Appendix relating to the Superannuation Account), November 1, 1902, p. 15. Mr. Trivett's report, on this final occasion, was a very exhaustive document. His summary of all pensions granted since the inception of the act was as follows: SUMMARY OF ALL PENSIONS GRANTED FROM JANUARY 1, 1885, TO JUNE 30, 1891. [From Supplement to Sixth Annual Report, relating to the Superannuation Account, Public Service Board, New South Wales.] Pensions granted per annum under provisions of Civil Service Act, 1884 The following detailed revenue account for the entire life of the superannuation fund down to the last valuation was among the returns offered by Mr. Trivett: DETAILED STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, JANUARY 1, 1885, TO JUNE 30, 1901, OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES SUPERANNUATION FUND. [From Supplement to Sixth Annual Report relating to the Superannuation Account, Public Service Board, New South Wales.] Total... 17,032.75 17,032. 75 $246, 350. 24 157,872.99 325, 86, 11 155, 879. 73 123, 147. 09 127, 707.79 122, 550. 15 113, 817. 14 $2,937. 22 $295.39 31,503.59 59, 481.87 48, 404. 42 319.73 $79,880.33 758.04 67,933. 70 $363,945. €0 $34.07 783, 2 8. 15 154 92 1, 28, 715 81 157.82 1,615, 44 39 39.09 2,052, 773 28 75.92 2, 239, 4 14 85 376. 26 2, 447, (14 29 2,615, 115.97 2,716,378, 22 150. 15 2,823, 911 84 84. 35 2,690, 416. 36 2,957,901.88 2,794, 4% (5 27.33 2, 418,957. 47 2,107,942 18 466. 25 1,804, 724 27 18,977.04 963. 87 1, 430, 532. 70 4,705. 42 486,650 281,040.38 4, 253, 577. 641, 103, 655. 23 5, 513. 72 654, 592. 67 2,530. 03 a See under revenue, balance brought forward for the year 1888. This total is 2 shillings (49 cents) more than the sum of the equivalent items as they appear in the printed official report. EXHAUSTIVE DISCUSSION OF CAUSES RESPONSIBLE FOR FAILURE OF FUND. Mr. Trivett's discussion of the causes which operated to bring about the failure of the fund and the principles which should underlie a perfectly safe scheme of superannuation makes very instructive and interesting reading. Said he: The present report relates to what will probably be the last investigation which will be made into the affairs of this fund, since the assets have dwindled to so low an amount as to bring the effective resources of the fund within easily measurable distance of extinction in point of time, and, therefore, to demand immediate sustentation measures to enable the claims of pensioners to be met. In view of this crisis it seems befitting that a review of the operations of the fund from its inception to the date of valuation should be made and presented, so that a complete knowledge of the system of superannuation now so disastrously disappearing may be readily obtained, and possibly some valuable information presented in a succinct form for use in any future measure respecting retiring allow ances." He then went on to show how the fund was started on a basis which carried failure from its very inception. It was established with a liability on account of the civil service as it then existed, which the a Public Service Board, New South Wales (Supplement to Sixth Annual Report relating to the superannuation account), November 1, 1902, p. 4. government endowment of £100,000 ($486,650) was utterly unable to meet. In the second place, the fund was used for purposes such as that of retrenchment and gratuities to relatives, which have no proper place in a superannuation scheme, and which should never be permitted in any scheme in which solvency is seriously regarded. He denounced the provision for the retirement of an officer in case of the abolition of his office as "entirely beyond the scope of any pension system where solvency is in the remotest degree entertained, unless extraordinary subventions are granted concurrently with the imposition of the burden arising from each pension thus prematurely created." He computed the amount paid away to pensioners of this class, to valuation date, as at least £430,000 ($2,092,595), or nearly half the total pension payments, which had been £980,431 ($4,771,267). The premature payment of these pensions, added to the lost contributions of such retired officers, discounted the revenues of the fund in a large measure. Finally, Mr. Trivett found that the payment of gratuities to persons who had not served sufficiently long to acquire pension rights had been a severe drain on the fund. This system of gratuities he declared "a fatal flaw in any scheme of superannuation, since the receipts by way of contribution can never be equal by accumulation to the payment to the gratuitant, unless under the very exceptional condition of a large reduction in salary from that receivable in the early years of service." The Act of 1884, according to Mr. Trivett, had fulfilled in an admirable manner the chief and true requirement of any pension system; that is, retirement for the aged. In that respect it was satisfactory. It had conferred untold benefits on many worn-out officers, had delivered the State, by the saving in money and by increased efficiency of the service from the undesirable condition which had previously existed, when retiring allowances were voted in the estimates every year, and when men, incapable through advanced age, adhered to their positions long after their periods of usefulness had vanished. The allowances were to be criticised, however, because they were based on the average salary of the last three years rather than the average salary of the whole term of service. Mr. Trivett found that the provision of invalid pensions had been highly beneficial, and deserves a place in any well-devised retirement system, but he also found that the contributions in this case had been insufficient for the benefits conferred and that the benefits, being based not on the average salary, as they should have been, but on the annual salary for the last three years, were too high. NEED OF RETIREMENT BOARD STILL FELT. Having reviewed the mistakes of the past, Mr. Trivett laid stress on the "serious fact" that "the same necessity of state, which prompted the legislature of 1884 to pass a measure instituting a system of retiring allowances, still existed and would continually present for solution the problem of maintaining a public service in a high state of efficiency and of ambitious hope, which is a necessary accompaniment, by providing for the due retirement of the aged and debilitated members of that service on some plan in accordance with the humanity and enlightenment of the times." This problem, hơ declared," can only be solved by a strict observance of business principles in the construction of whatever scheme may be adopted." ENDOWMENT ASSURANCE INADEQUATE AS RETIREMENT MEASURE. In Mr. Trivett's opinion, that paragraph of the Act of 1895 which required officers to effect endowment assurance on entering the civil service, did not promise much help. Said he, "The amount of such assurance in the case of an average officer, according to the regulations, will probably not exceed £200 ($973), which, whether regarded as the purchase money for an annuity or as the capital for any other form of investment, will not be of much value to the recipient. A pension system would be the safest measure of insuring satisfactory provision for retiring allowances; and, if the pensioner himself pays for the benefit, it would seem that the reasonableness of the proposition must be admitted." OUTLINE OF REQUIREMENTS FOR SAFE PENSION SCHEME. In conclusion, Mr. Trivett presented an outline of requirements for a pension scheme founded on safe principles and "lessons derivable from the history of the civil service superannuation fund.' They are as follows: (1) Pension should be payable only after age 60, or for ill health. (2) Pension granted on the ground of ill health should be subject to abatement, actuarially determined, in respect of the period by which age 60 is anticipated. (3) No gratuities should be allowed. (4) The pension rate should be on a moderate scale (a) either having some relation to the average salary, or (b) a fixed rate per annum for all pensioners, e. g., the amount which might be fairly regarded as a living" rate. 66 (5) The contributions should be on a scale certified as sufficient to meet the pension liability. (6) Means should be provided, under one control, for keeping the pension system under strict and comprehensive supervision, as to granting pensions, as to periodic payment, and as to collecting data relating to the public service." He also made the following significant statement of the contribution rates necessary to insure the sufficiency of a superannuation fund which aims merely to provide revenues for pensions accruing accord |