The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1909. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 633, 9 October 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1909. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

The difficulties under which a private member labours when attempting to bring under, the notice of Parliament any large and important l measure ■ of ■- reform wero well demonstrated, yesterday. Me. , Herdman, who has gone pains to precomprehensive Bill dealing i with the.Public Service, was forced to take the unusual, course of explaining his measure to members at. its introduction, instead the usual second reading And,why], .Simply ■because, the Govbrnqient, by. .claiming that| the' Bill dealt with the question of finance—which in a remote way it no doubt does—could at the second reading have prevented any .discussion at:all.' No matter, what the morits. 'of. .tho " case might be, the 1 Government cotild, and Sir Joseph Ward yesterday, , made it- abundantly .clear would, gag members, and prevent the discussion of the Bill. ; Of course it is only to be expected that the present Government, •will 'not''willingly. relinquish its ':P°5(5F,.1 Pf-"' Patronage, in. connection with the Givil Service, and we aro quite prep&r?'d/:.to'. .admit., that,.despite what. has happened there, aro somo who may honestly believo that political control is desirable. But to be opposed to nonrpolitical. control is one thing, and to attempt. to gag a private member who favours non-political control—and in fact gag the whole House—is quite another. Mr. Herdmak acted wisely, in seizing the only opportunity available to discuss his'very important proposal, and tho Prime Minister-was very foolish to grow angry and . threaten to, further reduce the privileges of members. Sir Joseph Ward must remember ' that he is. not merely threatening his opponents,. but is aiming at the privileges of the whole Hijuse. Turning to the Bill itself, the member for Wellington North took exactly the right line in his Speech. The, removal 'of the, Public Servicft.ifrom the control of .Ministers is requirad, not by tnn political necessities of iany party, but by *thc" necessity.' tiiat the

public interest shall bo placed beyond the ' roach of damage by ovory political party that may hold office in the future. ; Sir Joseph Ward threatened to produce a mass of irrclcvancics against the Bill when it, next comes up for discussion, and we have no doubt that lie will be able to quote various trifling defects in the working of various Commissioner systems in other parts of Australasia. But what can he Eay that can prevail for a moment against the powerful tcstimony of Australian statesmen in support of tho principle of Mr. Hekdman's Bill? Or against the notorious and unanswerable fact that no party in Australia has the slightest desire that the nonpolitical administration of tho Public Sorvico should bo abandoned in favour of the system of patronage and jobbery. The wonder'is that Sir Joseph Ward is ■ willing to appear as the champion of tho systorn which in theory and in practice is the system of Tammany. The wonder is the greater when it is remembered tlhat the Government has by its own action during the current' year admitted that tho present system has produced in their; most extreme form the evils which only non-political control can removo. It is true that Sir Joseph ventured to say that the Government was not'responsible for the causes which have necessitated tho retrenchment of the Service, but it is sufficient to quote again tho table which wo havo previously quoted to show that tho Ward Government has piled up the cost of the public Departments at; a rate far exceeding eveii the outrageous paco set by the late Mr. Seddon. Here is the table, the '.'annual appropriations" being the Departmental expenditure: Seddon Government. \ . ■ Anniial . . Increase over. • Appropriations, previous.year,' ■ 5 3,964,930 : • HUGG f 1 1905-C 4,252,233 . _ 287,303 Ward Government.: ; . 190G-7., 4,736,808 i • 484,573 1307-8 5,085,344 348,538 . , .. 10(18-9 5,575,183 490,139

The Ward Government, that is to say, increased the expenditure of the Depart-' ments by about 30 per ccnt., or £1,323,250 per year,, in three short years. " v '- The anxiety of the Government to stiflo Mn. Hep.dman's Bill is due to its anxiety to keep a tight hold of its perquisites and patronage. . A Government that really had the interests of the country at heart would,. one would* imagine, be glad to rid itself of the swarm of hangers-on, ivho, ; strong in the possession of votes, clamour for appointments to tho Public Service. Of substantial argument Sir Joseph Ward was as thrifty as he •was generous in assertion. -'He did not even attempt to substantiate his assertion that the Commissioner system is a system of "irresponsible autocracy." : He. actually _ asks that political control should be maintained, because udder.'Mr;. Herd slan;s Bill, : so ho alleged, "the whole of ;the 'employees in the Service, would bo rc,moved, from, the 'control of members of the House. It is, apparently, that Parliament, under tho Bill, would havei direct and immediate control over the Commissioners,,and could bring about any' result it chooses: Sin 'Joseph even objected to the .idea that \both' ■House's should have t<i'pass'resolutions! before ' a. : .Commissioner mi^ht.,, bo hisground foi- the House has authority in the matter of expenditure. :• He, seems' 'to' .have-' quito forgotten that both Houses niust concur before a J udgc can be removed from office. The, public cannot; ha vo i forgotten, and members of Pai-liament should look up, : the very l significant statement made by the-. President of the Amalgantatcci: Society of Servants' in July last. Speaking of '.'the possibilities of the fixture," : the. President,said that ' .i, .. "Th® Mtopiit.of retrenchment.we.wili have to bear 'tnll .depend to a great extent on'ftho power.of your Socioty to resist it.. If our men .will ".but;'.(.tand trnb. to, each other,- there is' very little 1 likelihood of the Government seri-" ously attacking our position." ,' Here is the, position in a nutshell. So :long as political control exists, tho State is, at the. mercy of any venal Government's surrender to tho people who can enforce their .threats with hostile, voices 'and votes.; In tho .loDg run public servants would bo better off under non-poli-tical control, and the interests of. the country would be better, served.