CIVIL SERVANTS' PAY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16550, 16 June 1919, Page 7

CIVIL SERVANTS' PAY.

♦ MINISTERS' EXPLANATION. A reply to assertions that since the inception of the National Government the cost of administration of the various Government Deportments, as" far as salaries and wages are concerned, had been considerably more than it was prior to the war, was made last week by the Hon. A. M. Myers, Acting-Min-ister for Finance. Mr Myers said that during the year 1913-14 the total salaries and wages paid to the various Departments amounted to £5,362,957, and in 1918-19 to £6,905,905. The latter included, however, over £685,000 paid by way of war bonus, and £25,000 in connexion with Departments created by the war. There was also an increase of over £300,000 in the Education Department, which was primarily due to increased salaries ana rates of increments to school teachers, and over £67,000 increase in police salaries, due to increased rates. In addition, there was a considerable increase in expenditure in the Defence Department, owing to the enormous amount of war worx thrown on the civil staff, necessitating the employment of temporary clerks and other assistance. "It will be clearly seen, therefore, that the assertions are not warranted, and that any increase not enumerated above is due to the ordinary expansion of the service, and the annual increments in salary," the Minister concluded.