Public Service Control.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16171, 27 March 1918, Page 6

Public Service Control.

In tho current number of the "Public "Service Journal" the question of public service control is discussed in an article which is presented as the first of a series in which the whole subject will bo fully treated. Hitherto tho tone of tho "Journal" has on occasion been far from friendly towards the Commissioner system, and there has been some excuse for anyone who has suspected that the "Journal," and the Association of which it is the official organ, would he glad' to sec the old system of Ministerial control restored. It is not entirely without surprise, therefore, that we find in its current issue an unequivocal expression of hojtiliry to political control. Tho revival of interest in the nroblem of control, which has been discussed in the news-papers and referred to by raera- | bers of the National Government, is

the occasion for "the official announcc- " rnent that the Association stands for "independent—that is apart from poli- " tical—control of the public service, " and will use its utmost strength to "defeat any movement which may L-o

"instituted to defeat' that object. ' l are warned, however, that we are I not to assume that this announcement | is an admission that '-the charges of political jobbery and manipulation under the old system are well founded ; nor are we to suppose that the j Association intends to commit itse'f I to "a whole-souled support of the | "existing control of the Service." On! tlie contrary, the Association holJ.s that tlie opportunities which the old svstem offered for the abuse of the

power of patronage were not much used, while there is room for many improvements in the existing system. " Nevertheless the latter has advan- " tages which would render a rcver•'sion to political control of the Pub''lic Service unthinkable,'' and these advantages the "Journal" intends lo demonstrate in subsequent issues. Ln another articlo reference is inade 'jy the "Journal" to some remarks by -Mr Hanan three weeks ago which boro the appearancc of an attack upon the Commissioner system as a barrier ro the free interference of a Minister with the officials of his Department. \Ve

have not the least desire to misrepresent the Association's attitude, or to road into its official expressions of opinion more than is intended; we wish only to understand clearly where Uio Association stands. For the present, it is enough to know that the idea of non-political control has conquered in just that quarter in which its merits would be most sharply scrutiniscd and in which the greatest opposition was to bo encountered. This will be oad news for those, few politicians who have resented the Commissioner system partly on purely party grounds and partly becauso it cut them off from an easily-worked source of poli • tical profit. Nobody else, however, will regret the acceptance by. the Association, after some years of trial, of t-lio sound principle of the Public Service Act, which may now bo regarded as secure, so far as fundamentals are concerned, from all reactionary assaults.