ENTRY TO PUBLIC SERVICE

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 21050, 29 December 1933, Page 8

ENTRY TO PUBLIC SERVICE

UNIVERSITY GRADUATES' CLAIMS VIEWS OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERS The system of recruitment to the Public Service in New Zealand, and the need for some means whereby better facilities might be given for the entry of university graduates to the service, was commented on yesterday by Dr. J. Hight, Rector of Canterbury College, and Mr A. K. Anderson, headmaster of St. Andrew's College, who is president of the Association of Heads of Registered Secondary "Schools. Their comment arose from the publication on Wednesday of the report of thfe Public Service Commissioner (Mr P. Verschaffelt). Although at the moment he was unable to make more than a brief general comment, Dr. Hight said that it was very necessary to provide some means, other than those existing at present, for the absorption in the Public Service of university graduates. Anyone who had personal contact with the members of the Civil Service in England was particularly struck witn the superior quality of. the service there, especially on the administrative side. This came from the fact that the great majority of the men in the service there were university trained, and many of them had gained high honours. Standard ot Attainment. Mr Anderson said that definite suggestions for reform of the system of entry to the Public Service in New Zeaiand had been embodied in a resolution passed at the annual conference of his association. This resolution (published in the correspondence columns of "The Press" in July) had suggested that the Government would be well advised to seek more of its civil servants from the ranks of those who had obtained a really high standard at school, or had obtained a high honours degree at the university, and that a special group should be formed within the Civil Service, from which those who proved their ability could be promoted, apart from any consideration of seniority, to high administrative positions. He would not suggest that administrative ability could be obtained only by the possession of high university degrees. The selection committee suggested by _ the resolution would take into consideration the general capacity and personality of candidates. Also, promising officers of the present Government staffs would be eligible for the special group. Five years ago the employees of one important Government department were reclassified on the basis of ability, and this was some evidence that the New Zealand system of making men begin at the very lowest rungs of the ladder, and work their way up principally through seniority, was not the best possible, he continued. Granted that there was a professional grade of highly qualified civil servants, but the thing complained of was the rota system, which could only occasionally be departed from under the present regulations. Comparison With England. These comments, said Mr Anderson, were not a reflection on the educational qualifications and ability of officers of the Public Service. The suggested that the Public Service might be improved in the direction indicated, and surely there was no institution, however good, which was not capable of improvement. In England men could join the Civil Service at any age up to 24, by which time they could have secured first-class university degrees. In addition, they had to pass the English Civil Service examination, in comparison with which the New Zealand University entrance examination (referred to by Mr Verschaffelt) had 110 standing. The present time gave an opportunity in New Zealand to demand the highest possible qualifications from candidates, and to give a definite prospect to brilliant secondary school boys and university graduates. The Civil Service could, by some recasting in its system, its entry age limits, and so on, provide careers for many more of the ablest young men in the community, who at present could not enter it for lack of opportunity, or were unwilling to enter it for lack of prospects.