POST AND TELEGRAPH.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 281, 20 August 1908, Page 9

POST AND TELEGRAPH.

NEW CLASSIFICATION LIST,

Tho Post and Telegraph. .Classification list for tho year 1908-9 was laid onl.tlib'tiiblolW tho House of Representatives yesterday afternoon. . The. list is changed in. many respects from previous ones, ..and. it is, now a fusion of positions under ' simpler classes. Tho idea'of the chango is to make clearer the relative standing of all the officers, and this should simplify tho work of tho administration to a considerable extent.

Tho last annual report of the Department states:—"The Post . and Telegraph Classification Act, 1907, makes important changes in the classification of officers of the Department. Instead of tliere being twentyfivo classes, the. Department has now only thirteen classes. This in itself makes greatly for simplification of treatment of the scheme of classification; but when it is considered that tho former distribution of officers interposed arbitrary distinctions to keep apart officers doing work of tho samo relative importance and value for the Department, the amelioration' appears still more clearly! For instance,- officers of tho First. Grade in' the First Class and chief postmasters at the four principal centres were formerly . separated, and some slight difference in salary marked tho separation. The separation was ' purely arbitrary, and hampered tho Department in filling vacancies. Now. these chief postmasters como into tho scheme in line with other officers doing work of equal importance, and the title 'First Grado' and its limits of salary cover all. This will have tho effect, it is believed, of enlightening and contenting officers." As far as can be ascertained, the new list will meet the wishes of tho vast majority of tho officers, senior and junior. The list was looked forward to with no small degree of apprehension by many in tho service who foresaw tho great difficulties in tho way of its compilation, but those responsible for the work have been successful, and general satisfaction/should result.

In the last list, the number of employees pf all classes totalled 5202; in this one, tho number has risen to the high figure of 5999, an increase in twelve months "of 797. This speaks volumes for the rapid growth of the business of tho Department. The figures are up to March 31 in "each case.