CAREERS FOR NEW ZEALANDERS

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20919, 28 July 1933, Page 17

CAREERS FOR NEW ZEALANDERS

TO THZ EDITOR OF THE PUESS. Sir, —On the question of "Careers for New Zealanders" I wish particularly to reply to "Ex-Public Servant" The resolution of the Association of Heads of Registered Secondary Schools is not a reflection on the educational qualifications and ability of officers of the Public Service. It suggests that the Public Service might be improved in the direction indicated, and surely there is no institution, however good, which is incapable of improvement. In New Zealand the entry to the Public Service was till t recently by means of the very easy Public Service Examination. Lately the University Entrance Examination has been more or less substituted. But in England, I am told, men can join the Civil Service at any stage up to the age of 24, by which time they can have secured first-class university degrees; and they have to qualify through the English Civil Service Examination, which is considered to be a more severe test than the Indian Civil Service Examination, and in comparison with which our University Entrance has no standing. The present time affords the opportunity to demand the highest qualifications in candidates and to give a definite prospect to brilliant secondary school boys and university graduates. The inference that administrative ability can be obtained only by the possession of high university degrees is not wholly a correct one, for the proposed selection committee will take into consideration the general capacity and personality of candidates. Mental brilliance, plus personality, ought to yield a good product. Further, promising officers of the present Government staffs would be eligible for the special group. With regard to the formation of the special group, the Rev. H. K. Archdall, the mover of the resolution, said: "My idea is that there should be a group or list of people specially qualified in various directions. The persons in this group or on this list might occupy various positions to start with. But it would be understood that when vacancies occur, when expert knowledge or special administrative ability iis needed, the Public Service Commissioner, in conference with the head of the department if necessary, should I be able to pick the man for the job regardless of a "pedestrian" system of seniority by years of service, etc. The people who were qualified to enter this group would thus be marked men who would go by the "express route," and thus there would be a better chance of getting the service of able men in responsible positions before they are too old or too set. As it is few reach such positions, where new policies might be enunciated, before they are near the retiring age and averse to change. The present system suffers from too much rigidity. I know that in technical matters the present system often breaks down. Our suggestion is that the real position should be openly faced and a systematic search for ability instituted." A responsible officer of the Public Service, in reply to a deputation of the association, welcomed the resolution as a general policy and especially its reference to administrative posts, and expressed envy of the practice at Whitehall. The fact that some five years ago the employees of one im- 1

portant government department were reclassified on the basis of ability is I some evidence that the New Zealand I system of making men begin at the very lowest rungs and work their way up principally through seniority is not i the best. Dr. C. E. Beeby said recently: "The Civil Service does not provide a good means of allowing worth to rise; its system provides promotion not on the basis of ability but on the irrelevant basis of length of service." We know that there is a professional grade of highly qualified civil servants; but there also exists the rota system, and the rota can only occasionally be departed from. Mr G. W. Armitage, at a recent meeting of the Canterbury Education Board, is reported to have said in connexion with one of the highest posts lately filled: "I do not approve of the policy of appointing men to these important posts by seniority. In this case I should have liked to see the Government search far and wide for a man to fill the p^ace." The object of our resolution, however, is not to criticise but to suggest means of providing suitable employment for exceptionally able young men. A brilliant dux of an Auckland secondary school and a lad of personality and powers of leadership secured some time ago a position in England. He received his education at the expense of the Dominion, which has now lost his services. His case is typical. The leading article in "The Press" claims that "there has never been a time when the country is more in need of its ablest men and women; and it is expensive folly to drive them overseas in search of the 'eminent and distinctive careers' which through false economy and bad organisation are denied to them at home." The Civil Service can, by some recasting in its system, its entry age limits, etc., provide careers for many more of our ablest young men who are at present lost through lack either of prospects or of opportunity, and the service in our opinion will benefit.—Yours, etc., A. K. ANDERSON, President, Association of Heads of Registered Secondary Schools. July 27, 1933.