H.—26.

Under section 27 of the Finance Act, 1925, the statutory allowances to widows and children were increased from £18 to £31 per annum, and from ss. per week to 10s. per week respectively. The additional expenditure on this account is recovered from the Consolidated Fund. Those officers who retired during the year and who possessed compensation rights under the Civil Service Act, 1866, would have been entitled to receive the sum of £3,603, the amount of compensation accrued to the date when they joined the Superannuation Fund had they not become participants in the benefits of the fund. The total amount of such compensation for which the fund became liable since the initiation of the scheme is £550,964. To this amount must be added accretions to the date of retirement, approximately £133,000, for which the Consolidated Fund would otherwise have been liable, and the whole may be fairly set against the total subsidies paid to the fund during the past twenty years, amounting to £1,376,500. Seventy retiring-ailowances were discontinued by death, and eighty-nine for other causes— viz., eight widows remarried, and seventy-nine children reached the age of fourteen, and two annuitants retired as medically unfit were reappointed to the Service. The annual amount payable at the close of the year was £342,881 7s. 4d., as shown in the statement attached. Income.—The total income for the year was made up as follows :— £ Members'ordinary contributions ... ... ... .. 249,301 Subsidy, Cook and Samoa Administration ... ... ... 1,145 Contributions from Government ... ... . . ... 99,810 Fines, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 305 Interest ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 146,790 Total income for year ... ... ... ...£497,351 Outgo.—The pensions paid during the year to contributors who have retired and to dependants of deceased contributors amounted to £338,138 os. 4d.—viz., £307,352 4s. 2d. to members, and £30,785 16s. 2d. to widows and children. Refunds of contributions to contributors who have left the Service amounted to £34,352 lis. Bd., while the refunds under section 42 to personal representatives of deceased contributors and annuitants amounted to £14,722 4s. 6d. Four contributors who were retired elected to accept a refund of their contributions under section 34, amounting to £939 35., in lieu of retiring-allowances. Three contributors were transferred to other funds in accordance with the provisions of section 120, and their contributions, amounting to £465 Bs. 2d., were accordingly transferred to such other funds. The salaries of the staff and other office expenses were £2,723 2s. and £1,505 os. 3d. respectively. The Public Trustee's commission on interest collected amounted to £3,638 os. 6d. Medical fees for reports under section 32 amounted to £66 3s. During the year a mortgage security was realized at a loss of £1,000 of principal and of £658 7s. 7d., arrears of interest and expenses of realization. The total outgo for the year was £398,386 17s. sd. Accumulated Funds. —These amounted at the end of the year to £2,528,454 ss. 6d. Balance-sheet. —On the 31st March the total assets of the fund, which include provision for the outstanding accounts; amounted to £2,620,003 16s. 9d. The balance-sheet appended gives full particulars as to the liabilities and assets. Investment of the Fund.—The total investments of the fund at each rate of interest were as follows : — Inscribed stock :— £ 5 per cent. ... ... ... ... ... 4,500 5J per cent. ... ... .. ... 250,000 5| per cent. ... ... ... ... 146,350 6 percent. ... ... ... ... ... 40,000 Debenture securities:— 4\ per cent. ... ... ... ... 15,000 5 per cent.... ... ... ... ... 33,102 5J per cent. . ... ... ... ... 15,423 6 per cent. ... ... ... ... ... 418,575 6J per cent. ... ... ... ... 5,000 927,950 Mortgage securities : — 5 per cent. ... ... ... ... ... 2,655 5| per cent. ... ... ... ... 12,320 6 per cent. ... ... ... ... ... 1,460,433 6+ per cent. ... ... ... ... 151,590 1,626,998 Total ... ... ... ... £2,554,948 The above total includes £21,509 lis. invested on Stipendiary Magistrates' Account. The average rate of interest earned for the financial year on the mean funds was £6 Is. Bd. per cent., as compared with £6 Is. per cent, for the previous year.

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