THE CIVIL SERVICE.

Colonist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3709, 10 September 1883, Page 4

THE CIVIL SERVICE.

The necessity for Civil Service raferm has been recognised in Victoria as *ell as in New Zealand, but in the caee of the former colony-immediate steps are being taken tarabolish existing abuses. A Civil Service Bill has been read a first time, and is to come on for- the second reading next week. The Premier (Mr James Service), in explaining the provisions of the measure, stated that when the existing Act wag passed ie 1863, there were 775 classified officers and 1501 unclassified officers, but to-day the classified officers bajve sunk to 571, and the unclassified officers have risen to 2482 Tb<jse i figures are irrespective of the Hail way and Education Departments, So-calljed 'supernumeraries' were appointed and gradually—the law notwithstanding—these men were piveri all the privileges of the classified civil ■ervant. So soon as it was found that candidates need not pass any examination, and need not commence at the bottom rung, but could 'jump over the wall,' a scramble set in ;■ political influence was used freely, and the present state of the service has become * deplorable.' Most ingenious plans are in operation for promoting favorites; discontent is general, and'it is not to be wondered at when officers are to be found sitting at the sanje desk and doing the same work, the one of whom may receive 100 per ce6t more salary than the other* Mr Service is pained to find how much discontent and demoralisation have increased since he last took office,1 anjd he contends that the improper use of patronage is answerable for all. It would liot do to transfer patronage from one set of men to another, frota Ministers to heads of department^, and therefore the Government hav^e been driven to adopt the English system—just adopted also by America-*----of placing the service under a Public Service Board, independent of external control, to work according to rule, ao,d to appoint by competitive examination. The officers selected for the Board are ihe Audit Commissioners. These gentlemen have been consulted, and they see their way to discharge the duties on the understanding that their full strength of three Commissioners in restored, and that they ar,e relieved of certain routine and unh necessary work. Mr Service explained the new system at length, and contended that political favor would have no place therein, and that once in operation, it would bring merit almost automatically to the front. Under the new Bill, the Civil Service ia divided into four divisions. The first consists of heads of departments, eleven in all. The second is entitled " professional " division. The third is the " clerical," and the fourth is the i( non-clerical " division. The clerical division, which contains the" bulk of the service, is divided into five classesi and al«o into ten grades. Appointments will be made to the fifth class. Competitive examinations will be held throughout the Colony; the names of candidates will be recorded in their order of merit, and all the men first on the list will receive the first vacancy, and so on. An officer appointed to the fifth class can rise to the fourth class by seniority and merit, these two classes constituting the lower grade, but before promotion to the third class he must pasa another aud higher examination, the competition being confiued to officers already in the service. The first, sacocd, and third classes are the higher grade of the clerical division. Candidates will be appointed on probation in the first instance, and no new appointment will be made except at the request of the permanent head of the department, the board further certifying that upon inquiry it finds that an officer is re* quired. All persons at present in the permanent employment of the Government, whether classified or unclassified, are brought under the operation of the Bill, and become members of the public service, and the first duty of the board will be to classify the work done in each of the departments 13 that in future the work will classify the officer. The Education Department is dealt with in the Public Service ; Bijl in a separate division. The office is not placed directly under the Board, but it is'to be controlled by a c committee of classifiers.' This Committee is to consist of the Inspector Genera), of a head teacher of a first class State eebool, to be elected by the certificated teachers in the State schools, and of some person appointed by the Governor in Council. One of the provisions of the Public Service Bill is that 'no person who is proved to the satisfaction of the Board to be habitually üßine intoxicafng beverages to excess, shall be appointed to or retained in the public service." This clause, says Mr Service, is taken verbatim from the American Act. Hon members showed their approbation of the section by applause. No person is to be appointed to the serservice who is under 16 years of «ge or over 25. ,