The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1020. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 142, 15 June 1920, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 1020. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

~w * Fnr the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that nfcils resistance, for the future iv the distQnce, And the good that we t-u-i do.

To calm the unrest in the po.stal service, whicii is widespread and deep, and has resulted in talk of dinvt action, the I'rinic Minister ha* given a,s.-u ranees that, 'til* claims to higher salaries will be considered soon with the a.vsistance of a special board of advice, and that salaries will be fixed, so far at any rate as the lower grades are concerned, in accordance with the cost of living. The postal employees may complain that these assurances might have been given to th*'in aome time ago, but we are sure they will take the advice of their secretary and wait patiently for the adjustment. Mr. Massey's statement has the merit of containing a definite policy. Other departments'.claims are to be investigated, and apparently dealt with on the came principle. The trouble hitherto has been that the claims of different sections of the Public .Service have been dealt with in a rather haphazard way. Considerable pressure Jiae been necessary for the extraction of higher wages and toonuees, delays have bred discontent, and the' departments have been met separately and under no uniform plan of action. Tho result.lias been that while one department hae been interviewing the Prime Minister in the drawing-room, others have* been kicking at the front and back doors, and threatening to break thejr way in. Now there is to be *?me uniformity in the handling, of theee demands. The same salary schedule cannot be applied to all departments, but there can be similarity of investigation in the various cases and similarity of principle in decisions. Mr. Massey makes it clear that, contrary to the suggestion that appeared to 'be made in a recent -Treasury memorandum, the additional money required is not to be obtained by increasing tho general revenue from taxation. The Departments are to stand on their own feet. Increased wages to tho railwaymen are to be obtained by raising railway charges, and the granting pf the postal employees' demands will mean the raising of rates. This is the only sound policy. As our readers will have gathered from information published recently in the "Star," railway freight rates are long overdue for a thorough revision. It will annoy people to have to pay another half-penny on their letters, or another penny or two on their telegrams, but thoy must console themselves with the thought that for the Department tp lean upon the general revenue for support would be unsound finance. Already its expenditure is £1,941,000, an increase of a quarter of a million on tho previous year, and ita'rovenue is £2,006,000, an increase of only £132,000. If allowance were made for interest on loans It would probably be found that the Post Office did not pay its way. Mr. Alassey has something to say about the criticisms of Government expenditure. "Some newenapera professing to represent ipublic'Spinion are girding at the . Government because wo do not keep down departmental expenditure. How can wa keep down expenses when we have to raise salaries for all branches of the service?" We may remark in reply to this, first, that the newspapers that are criticising the Government are not confined to its opponents; the leading Reform organs, as well as the Liberal Press, are perturbed about public finance,'especially about tho increase of nearly three millions in departmental expenditure, and while Mr. Massey is quite entitled to remind his critic* of this factor in this branch of finance, it does nob necessarily follow that he hag answered them completely. There remain the questions whether or not come of the Government Departments are over-staffed, and whether there is the econom^in various directions and the general supervision that there should be. For example, a Customs clerk at tNapier was convicted the other day of defrauding the Department of £4,800. Critics of the Government may fairly ask how it came about that a clerk was able to steal such a large gum, and suggest that the methods of supervision fhoukl be examined. The heavier the Government expenditure the more need there is for vigilance in checking any departmental extravagance and -slackness.