The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1908. MINISTERS AND OVERWORK.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 111, 3 February 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1908. MINISTERS AND OVERWORK.

In renewing at Tailiape what we can only call the headquarters agitation for an enlarged Ministry, Mr. M'Nab said, some very interesting things, and raised somo curious issues which,' for some purposes, might no.t unprofitably be made the subject of close discussion. He declared that if statistics were compiled relating to tho fate' of leading public into in this country, it would he found' (that the death : rate was greater than in almost any other " profession." If such a high death-rate were found a.ttached to the occupation of coal-mining, or amongst seamen, there would he an outcry for remedial legislation. From these premises he went on to argue that the Ministerial deathrate shotild be reduced by increasing the number of Ministers, especially as the departmental business of government was growing more various every

year. The temptation is strong to pursue the fascinating problem _ whether statesmanship should be considered an industry, the people employed in which should be made the subject of protective legislation, but we cannot discuss that aspect:further than to say that statesmanship would suffer, as the priesthood, or the medical profession would suffer, if its climate, so to speak,, were so tempered as to make superfluous in its members the spiritual quali-, ties of devotion, self-sacrifice, and al.truistic zeal. . . ' ■

The answer to the suggestion that the. Ministry should be enlarged was supplied by Mr,. M'Nab himself in a later' portion of his Taißape speech, when he defined, not perhaps with any authoritative finality,, but /still with, a rough accuracy, the functions of a Minister. The Minister's duty, he said, was not to carry on the actual work of administration: he should be the voice and directing head of the policy that is carried out by the Civil Service. In practice, Ministers have grown quite away from this definition of their duties. Curiously the subject of Ministerial overwork has been under discussion in England. Mr. H. W. Wilson wrote in the "Daily Mail" of the duties of Prime Ministers, and lie came to the conclusion that, the burden is one " which no human being can support." As a matter of fact it is supported, and, as the "Spectator" points-out, the death roll of Prime Ministers is not so long a one as, according to Mr. Wilson, it bought to be. The. Prime when de-

fented, usually becomes more active than ever as Leader of the Opposition. The "Spectator" has some comments which are quite applicable to the position in New Zealand. Nowadays in England, it appears, the largest task of a British Minister is composed of " exhausting his lungs and weakening his heart by shouting commonplaces" on local platforms. Sir Henry Cnmp-bell-Bannerman had been thised with because he had been making many public addresses. " There was no real need," says the " Spectator," " for the Prime ilinister to make ' seven . important, speeches in one month.' They contained no fresh arguments. . . The moral of all this is that Prime Ministers make a good deal of their work for themselves." _ ■ That moral is true of our own Ministers. We greatly doubt whether Mr. M'Nab can supply statistics that will convincingly demonstrate the abnormality of the death-rate of New Zealand Cabinet Ministers. It is quite certain that those upon which he would lay most stress would be quite invalid. Even if he could prove his point, the matter would not be settled, for, as we have said, it will be a bad day for the country when democracy degrades statesmanship into a matter of highly-paid managerships. If there is " overwork," it is of Ministers' own making—the result .of undue encroachment upon the detail work of departmental officials, and unnecessary travelling. about the country i'or electioneering purposes. ' ■