The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-16 00:00:00

During the last session he had been asked whether ho intended I
to submit a bill on thesubject, which he found almost ready I
for introduction when he acceded to office. The business of
the session did not allow its being proceeded with then, but
he was now about to fulfil the promise which he bad given to
deal with this subject by the introduction of a bill which was
as nearly as possible identical with that to which he had re-
ferred. Every member of the house would admit the great
importance to the due conduct of the Government of the per-
manent civil service, and it was therefore unnecessary for him
to dwell upon the importance of the proper regulation of their
salaries and superannuation allowances. The present superan-
nuation had grown up within a short time, but within that
time important changes had been made in the system on which
the civil service had been treated. Duringthe last century nu-
merous sinecures were in existence, and were called in aid to
provide for persons whose thus of service had been suck
as to give. them a claim for retirement. There was, in fact,
nothing deserving the name of a system. But towards the
end of the last century remarks were made as to the necessity
of providing a regular system, when a pension of liberal
amount had been given for the best part. of life to the service
of the public, and time came when it was for the public ad-
vantage that he should resign. No Government would consign
such a gentleman to poverty. The result inevitable would
be, if no system of superannuation was in operation, that a
large number of inefficient persons would be kept in the public
offices, performing scarcely any duties, but receiving high
salaries, and excluding from promotions their juniors who
really discharged the duties of the office. About the begin-
ning of the present century the foundation of the present
system of superannuation was laid by a'. Treasury minute,
dated August, 1803, which provided for the retirement of
officers in the Customs. The first act of Parliament passed
on the subject was the 49th George 111. There was ole pe-
culiarity iu this act. It recognised the making of deductions
from the salaries of excise-officers to raise a fund for the pay-
ment of superannuation allowances. The next legislation on
the subject was in 1810, which fixed certain limits for allow-
ances, somewhat less than were fixed by the minutes of 1803.
This was the first act relating to the civil service, the act 49
Geo. relating only to the Excise. In the year 1811 an
act was passed to abolish the Customs superannuation fund,
amounting to 165,5211., to the consolidated department, and
authorising the payment of superannuation allowances out of
the general revenue. On the 10th of Aug., 1821, a Treasury
minute was issued recommending that those who enjoyed the
benefit of the superannuation allowances should be called upon
to contribute to a superannuation fund. The Treasury minute
led to the passing of the act of 1822, which superannuation
fund was authorised to,be laid by percentage on the salaries of
civil servants. This was the origination of the system of deduc-
tions, which was ono of the main causes of complaint. Salaries
under 1001. were exempt from the operation of this act. Salaries
between 1001. and 2001. suffered a deduction of 2a per cent.;
and salaries above 20u1. 5 per cent.; while if any civil servant
received an increase of salary above the rate of the previous I
year, he was to be taxed at the rate of 10 per cent. ; and it
was provided that half the superannuation allowances should
be paid out of the Consolidated Fund and half out of the su-
perannuation fund raised under the provisions of the act. The
act also introduced a new scale of pensions, and also provided
for a return of what had been paid to the executors of a civil
servant if he died in office. In the following year ccmplaints
were made that the superannuation allowances had been made
applicable on servants already in office, and the result was,
teat the payments already made were returned, and the su-
perannuation allowances were charged on the Consolidated
Fund. The question, however, again came before the com-
mittee, presided over by Mr. H. Parnell, in 1828. That com-
mittee recommended that a fund should be created by annual
deductions from the salaries of persons about to enter office,
and that the superannuation allowances should be exclusively
derived from that fund ; and accordingly Mr. Goulburn, the
then Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced a bill to carry
out the recommendation of the committee. It was, however,
rejected, ou the ground that it was not fair to subject to the
same deduction the salaries of persons who had entered the
civil service on different conditions. But in 1829 the Go-
vernment issued a minute, which was the foundation of the
system now in operation ; and which, while recognising the
object of the house to give any deductions a retrospective
operation, imposed a deduction of 2i per .cent. on salaries of
more than 1001., and of 5 per cent, on salaries of more than
2006. of persons entering the service after that date. In 1834
the act was passed under which thb present system was esta-
blished. That act enacted that there should be a deduc-
tion of 2a per cent, on salaries under 1001., and of 5 per
cent. above that sum ; but it did not enact that these de-
ductions should be carried to any special fund. Beyond
altering the scale of superannuations then in force, this act
did not introduce any new principle. It merely copied the
previously existing Treasury minute. It was, however,
declared that every person in the civil service in 1829 should
be exempt from any deductions. During the, first year after
the system came into operation, the number of persons sub-
ject to deductions was small, and their complaints were not
much heard. Now, however, about two-thirds of the civil
service were subject to deduction, and as they felt the effect
of those deductions in their salaries, their complaints had
reached Parliament. Their complaints were distributed under
various heads. In the first place, some of them aese, ted, in a
paper which bore the name of Mr. Burnley, the accountant-
general of the Admiralty, that there had been a distinct breach
of faith on the part of the Government in an illegal applica-
tion of the funds obtained by the deduction, and in an at-
tempt to withhold from the civil servants, by the non-crea-
tion of a fund, those accumulations of the deductions which
should have accrued to them. He had, however, looked
through the whole series of Treasury minutes and accounts
applicable to the subject. But it appeared clear that the po-
licy of creating a fund was abandoned in 1829, and that in
the act of 1834 there was not the slightest trace of any inten-
ton to create a fund ; and the absence of any enactment to
that effect, coupled with the positive enactments on that sub-
ject in previous acts, showed that it was not the intention of
the Legislature in 1834 to create any fund as that to which
the civil servants now referred. Now as to the disposition
of the money which had accrued from these deductions. In
the revenue departments, the deductions from salaries are
made when salaries are paid., and amounts are carried to the
account of superar nuatio us, anduever paid into the exchequer.,
With respect to the other departments., the practice was simi-
lar until the year 184 S. Since then the deductions are paid
into the exchequer, that the Parliament shall vote the full
amount for superannuations. He believed the house would
find that there was no ground for the charge of lereach against
the Government for their application of the deductions since
1834. And it was impossible for any civil servant engaged since
1829 to say that lie bad any reason to complain of a deduction,
of which he had full notice. Let the house, however, look at the
nature of these deductions. When they voted the salaries of
the revenue department, any salary they voted was subject
to a deduction according to its amount, if the person receiv-
ing it had entered office since 1829. The person who entered
since that time never could receive more than the nominal
salary, less the deduction. Theme who pleaded. the cause of
the civil servants against these deductions said, first, that if
the deductions made since 1829 had been funded, and had
been accumulated at compeund interest, the Government had
achieved a most profitable bargain, and the civil servants had
lost a large sum. The total charge for superannuation allow-
ances was now 767,659/., and 75,0001. on account of artificers.
The deductions were 61,0001: per annum ; and, therefore,
taking the most sanguine view of the result to be derived
from funding the deductions, it could hardly be expected that
the time would ever come vehen the decluetions would cover
the pensions. But then it was said that the present system
spared the very high officers of state and also the lowest class
of officers, such as the lowest class of clerks and the artificers
employed in the different departments. He believed, how-
ever, that there were now only only four p.litical pensioners
in existence, so that that head of complaint fell to the ground,
Then it was said that the diplomatic servants should be sub-
ject to the deductions. But these pensions were charged in
a peculiar method ; and the same result applied to the Indian
officials. The judicial officers had also always stood on their
own -ground ; and had always been considered as standing
apart for this system, That was so far an anomaly on the
question. Thou there was a number of inferior officers in
the Naval and Ordnance departments, who were also exempt
from deductions. Iu the Ordnance there were, in 1851,
9,872 artificers entitled to superannuations, but paying no
deductions; in the same year there were 12,000 persons
employed by the Admiralty in the same position ; and
there were 2,398 in a similar position in the Post-office.
Then there was another 6311011 s complaint made. They
said that out of the persons who paid deductions a very
small part received superannuations. Dr. Farr had calcu-
lated that if the present system was brought into full opera-
tion, that out of 100 persons entering the service and paying
deductions, not more than 6 or 7 per cent, would be super-
annuated. and receive any benefit from the deductions. With
regard to the customs department there had not been a very
material difference. He found that 509 had retired upea
pensions, 22 had been discharged on gratuities, 29 hail died
us the service, 28 had been discharged, and 118 voluntarily
left. The total numbers ho had given, were not quite fair as
regarded the present system, because they included those who
entered before 1829, and who were entitled to the old scale
of pensions, which were more liberal than they were in the
present scale. There was another objection, which was some-
tunes on be'aalf of the civil servants, namely the double ope-
ration of the deductions, and the income tax ; and he was
bound to say, that that combined operation did sometimes in-
volve considerable hardship. Ho would state to the house
one ease which exemplified in a strong manner the hardship
to which he adverted. , When a clerk was promoted from
1051. to 1101. a-year he became a loser. On a salary of 1101,
there was a deduction for superannuation payments of Si,
108 , which reduced it to 1041. 10s., and the income tax fur-
ther reduced it to 991. 9s. ld. The calculation being applied
to the 105/. would show that by. such a promotion a clerk lost
ss. Id. a-year. (Laughter.) Now that, it must be admitted,
was a case of considerable hardship, add it operated severely
not only upon persons with that low Class of salaries, but
upon the chief clerks in tile various departments, and made
a great inroad upon their income. lie had now, he believed,
stated as fairly as he could the objeutiensainade by the civil
servants of the combined system of deductions which he hail
explained. The house would, perhaps, expect that he would
propose to abolish the deductions and to substitute the old
scale of pensions, which were more liberal than-the present.
In apswer to that representation of the civil servants, he
woald first remark that the notice which was given to all per-
sons entering the civil service by the act of 1334 was plain
and explicit as it well could be, and that everybody who
accepted office after that time knew, or might have known,
that his salary would be subject to these deductions. Al-
though it was true that salaries voted by that house were
not diminished by such deductions, yet everybody who en-
tered the civil service was well acquainted with the fact that
ho would be liable to those rateable deductions, and if his
(the Chancellor's) view of the subject' was correct, that act
must be taken to be a contrast between the civil service and
the Radom. He therefore could not admit as having any
validity, the argument that any breach of faith had been
committed either by the Government or tho nation. It ap-
peared to him that great objections existed to the inconsis-
tency and vacillation which bad been exhibited by Parliament
on this question, and he was afraid they could not look to
Parliament of late ye lrs as affording an example of steadiness
of principle upon the subject. He should not, therefore, in
his measure propose to make any alteration in the system of
deductions. The amendments in the bill he should propose
to lay upon the table would be limited to an alteration in the
scale of superannuation allowances ; and he should propose
to make it more liberal than it was under the existing scale.
It would be nearer the old scale, and it would be accompanied
by several other changes, all of which would be more liberal
tojthe civil service than the terms upon which they now held
their offices. He should not trouble the house with deals,
but if the house should permit him to introduce the bill, and
to read it a second time, he should propose to refer it to a
select committee, giving that committee the power of calling
wituessee. In that manner the subject, which was essentially
one of details, would be thoroughly sifted. Ile wished to
submit to the committee a series of Treasury minutes upon
the subject, and they would have an opportunity of examining
the civil servants, of ascertaining what sort of case they made
out, what arguments they bad to substantiate their corn-
pliints, and what remedies they proposed. The right hon.
gentleman having briefly referred to various propositions
which had been made, said the present was not the proper
time to discuss them, and he then concluded by formally
moving for leave to bring in a bill to amend the act relating
to the superannuation of the civil service.
Mr. RICH opposed the measure, mff the ground that it-watt
net advisable to disturb the present arrangements. He was
sorry to see the Chancellor of the Exchequer gangling to the
pressure without. Act iLd urt, however, wish to cwit the .
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