CIVIL RIGHTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 179, 30 July 1936, Page 8

CIVIL RIGHTS.

PUBLIC SERVANTS.

FREEDOM OF OPINION. PROVISIONS IN" NEW BIIX. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Important provisions affecting civil servants are contained in a bill now ready for presentation in the House of Representatives.

The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, said to-day that the bill would restore to civil servants tlieii complete civil rights. They would be given the right of free expression of opinion and would be permitted to stand for Parliament if they so desired. Leave would be given them for this purpose, and if they were elected they would resign from the Public Service. Further, the bill would provide for the repeal of section 5!) of the Finance Act, 1932, which made it lawful to dismiss without notice any public servant if the appointing authority was satisfied that he had been guilty of conduct calculated to incite violence or disorder, or that, by public statements or statements intended for publication in New Zealand or elsewhere, he had sought to bring the Government of New Zealand into" disrepute; or that in any other manner his conduct had been gravely inimical to the peace, order or good government of New Zealand.

Another provision would enable industrial organisations consisting of members of the Public Service, such as the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, to contribute their funds to any political organisation if the majority of the members wished to do so.