The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-27 00:00:00

THE CIVIL SERVANTS OF THE CROWN AND

THE SUPERANNUATION TAX.
•
The committee deputed in the year 1846 from the
several departments of the state for the purpose of ender
vendee to obtain an amendment ante Superanneation Act
of 4 and 6 William IV., cap. 24, have jest issued • lengthy
address to the civil servants of the mown. They state that
tbe abject of that met was both to diminish the male of pen-
RUIN and also to improve 'snails assessments in civil sala-
ries, it had bees ascertained by careful calculation that
the Most of the former of these enactments would be
evembeally to reduce the annual charge for civil pension.,
wbish at present amounts to 603,1641., I. • probable maxi-
ma= of 8111,0004., thus easetice, withest•seeeremes be the
assammantn, a permanent saving to the essniry of upwards
3011.11811845 w imam ezelasive of the fartbereaving remelting
from the east on tie pension list of the demean of nearly
MAK per annum in civil salaril4fredessious of dace
am bascpuently to 1820 and to the of dor sit. This
sewers had therefore already as tamed a pro-
spective " redaction of the thugs to be busied in provid-
ing for superannuation allowances," ea weld have been
either desired or contemplated by the Healdure. Had
these clauses, however, not been emmeleik mai bed the old
scale of superananatioa bees allowed be remain la farm, the
annual charge upon the country for punkas would costume
in perpetuity at more than half • Wale eerribig, although
the probability was that the majority Melva sensate may
die in active easviee—a few only receiving Me hesent of the
eontribotions of all. Moreover the whine enema of the
contributions, my 94,0001. • year, would mee pay 20
per cent. of the pensions if the old male were
restored, although the merry would *may incur
an increased awed thyme of more thera 200,0001.
In regard to the amettheethe levied on salaries it had been
ascertained that, while the amount peidas rthiene to °ow,
Winn _
to in the year 1861 was only the amount
assessed during that year was 66,1961. • end that, while the
total suns so paid as pensions to coutrlbuters from 1829 to
1851 was only 80,4231., the total sum arseesd oaring the
same period amounted, without interest, to 680,7081., and,
bad it been funded, as it had not, at only 3 per neat. in-
terest, it would hays been increased to 681.6671. It had,
moreover, been ascertained, by elaborate calculations, that
the amount of these assessments of 2 and 6 per cent., which
were originally instituted by the Pension Act of 1822, with
the declared object of defraying only a moiety of the an-
nual charge for superannuation, was so excessive and
dispro-ortionate, that if properly funded, and administered
iu strict afeordance with the provisions of the present
Act, it would defray not only a moiety, but the entire pro-
spective charge to be incurred forte superannuation of
contributors during the nest sixty years, and would also by
that period have risen to the enormous surplus fund of
6,699,5531., the Miami of which sum alone, without fur-
ther assessments, would suffice to defray in perktuity the
entire charge for civil pensions. It had, therefore, been
demonstrated, by the result of this calculation, that the
operation of the Superanauation Act must necessarily be
to entail on the present generation of civil servants the
entire burden of providing not only for their own retiring
allowances, but Also for thole of all their mammary who may ,
enter the public service in time to come. The committee
recommended the conversion of the assessment into a pro-
vident fund, to be established on the principle of life suer-
ance, in preference to the abolition of the assessments alto-
gether, and the consequent pro rata increase of salaries.

THE GREAT FIRE AT ESHER PAPER MILLS.—
The fire winch broke oat on Friday night in Mr. 111.1iliw-
ray's mills is not yet wholly extinguished. The accident Is
now surfboat to the spostaasou anabostios of rep
watiliossed is a imp Nab.