A Matter For The Prime Minister?

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30937, 18 December 1965, Page 14

A Matter For The Prime Minister?

Mr T. H. Pearce, president of the New Zealand Rugby Union, was irked by the thorough inspection of his shoes by the Department of Agriculture officers at Auckland Airport “I intend to make a protest to “ the Prime Minister about it ”, he said. If, on reflection, Mr Pearce still believes he has grounds for complaint against the way these officers carried out a procedure followed in the interests of New Zealand’s major industry he has many authorities to whom he might address his protest—the senior officer of the department in Auckland; perhaps, even, the DirectorGeneral of Agriculture. After exhausting the resources of the department—even up to the level of the Minister of Agriculture—in his search for redress or comfort, Mr Pearce could still seek the help of the Ombudsman. But, like so many other New Zealanders, Mr Pearce had no other thought than to go to the man at the top, the Prime Minister. The point to be noticed is not the complaint by Mr Pearce, whose annoyance was no doubt real if ill-founded, but the incurable propensity of New Zealanders for requiring Ministers of the Crown, and the Prime Minister in particular, to give their personal attention, and the time of their staffs, to trivial matters. Ministers may, in theory, have the ultimate responsibility for these matters. They may have no responsibility for them at all; yet some acknowledgement is expected from them. This has always been so. Politicians have themselves fostered the idea by affecting an interest in trivia. The corridors of Parliament House are daily tramped by deputations of varying importance; and the mailbags and telephones bring suggestions, complaints, and requests for special attention. No politician can afford to cut himself off from the every-day affairs of the electors. Yet electors also expect a Minister to get on with the job of government, to put first things first, and to have time to decide which things should be put first If the priority of work goes astray at the top, it also goes astray on the desks of departmental officers. As the business of government becomes more complicated and demanding. Ministers must become less accessible and citizens must then place greater faith in the ability and good will of ordinary members of Paritement and of public servants to deal with th&r problems. The touch of Ministers win be less personal; but it win be surer and more efficient in the affairs that matter most