THE ECONOMY COMMISSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 307, 29 December 1931, Page 6

THE ECONOMY COMMISSION.

The Government is understood to favour for the Commission on economy that is to be appointed forthwith a small body that will bring expert commercial and financial knowledge to bear on the subject, and may include a member with a thorough knowledge of departmental expenditure. But such knowledge is possessed only by a civil servant, active or retired, and it is doubtful whether it is wise to include even one of this class on the Commission. The inquiry should bo searching, and carried out by men who have no prejudices in any direction. The Wellington City Council has set up a Commission to make a thorough investigation of its administration, apparently for 110 special reason, but on general principles. The Commission Avill consist of two outsiders—a Wellington accountant and a civic engineer from Australia, who lias held important positions. This inquiry will be watched with interest by other local bodies, for it is almost certain that the report will apply in some respects to city government generally, and economy is being pressed upon municipalities as on the central Government. The Government, indeed, might consider obtaining the services of Mr. H. E. Morton, either for its Economy Commission or for the Commission that is to inquire into the distribution of local government. But the special point that we wish to make now is that this Economy Commission should be chosen from outside the ranks of the Civil Service, should be composed of the best men available, and should be given as wide an order of reference as the Wellington Council has given to Mr. Morton and Mr. Vickery. The Cabinet Committee on Economy has done good work, but it is hampered by its very nature. Ministers are too busy to find time to do all the probing work that is required, and they are advised and assisted by members of a service that itself is on trial, What is needed now is a thorough investigation of Civil Service organisation and administration, the methods by which departments are run, and the relations between departments. There is, for example, the Public Works Department, a great problem in itself. What is to be its future, now that railway construction is being curtailed and the end of hvdro-electrical development is within sight? What is to be done with its staff? Are its methods businesslike, and what is the .relation between its estimates and its expenditure? The Economy Commission's. programme should include a searching inquiry into the organisation and administration of this Department, for there is nothing more important that the Commission can do. 1