222 ON PROSPECTS OF THE CIVIL SERVICE, &c. 



hopefully stated in the following words : Every person now in 

 the Public Service who is a subscriber to the fund created by the 

 Act, and who may remain in the service for ten years from this 

 date, will then find that he had the satisfaction of contributing to 

 the pensions of those who have retired before him, but that there 

 is nothing available for pensions which may then be due, or 

 afterwards become so. 



The question which I have thus brought under the notice of the 

 Society is of interest to every contributor to and every recipient 

 from the Fund. I apprehend that when the Fund becomes insol- 

 vent as, unless further endowed, it assuredly must in about ten years, 

 those who may then be pensioners will have to submit to a reduc- 

 tion of their retiring allowances, in order that others entitled to be 

 placed on the pension list may share with them, according to their 

 claims, the available income. All contributors to the Fund have a 

 claim to be pensioned from it. The Act does not appear to make 

 the claim of any one superior to that of another ; and as it cau- 

 tiously provides that the pension or gratuity granted shall be paid 

 out of the Fund, so far as the same shall be adequate to discharge 

 it, the fact of a pension having been granted to one would hardly 

 justify his being paid in full to the prejudice of another, though a 

 later claimant. If it be clearly understood that, when the period 

 of insolvency shall have set in, those entitled to pensions will be 

 allowed to divide the annual income between them in proportion 

 to their claims, there is perhaps no necessity for immediate action. 

 In that case, those who may get first on the pension list, and have 

 contributed the least to the fund, will receive the most, whilst 

 those who may be placed on it in ten years time will, perhaps, 

 receive a half-pay retirement. This, however, is, comparatively 

 speaking, a bright prospect. But, if the pensions are to be paid 

 in full, on the principle of " first come first served," it behoves 

 those who cannot expect to qualify themselves for retirement 

 during the next ten years to consider their prospects, and to take 

 steps for the improvement of their position. To give the Fund, 

 with its present liabilities, a prospect of continued vitality, it 

 should at once be further endowed with the sum of 80,000. 

 If this cannot be obtained, the pensions granted should be 

 limited to the capability of the Fund, which I have shown to 

 be considerably less than the Act presumes. 



