The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1909. THE CIVIL SERVANT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 642, 20 October 1909, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1909. THE CIVIL SERVANT.

In thp Loijdon Djiily jYcii;? last month thor'c appeared sqnip .correspon(j?nco iupon the.statiis of (Civil, Sdryaqtß which ■■is. of spcqal : int9Fest to'Jfw ; at th,e present time, 'ii.o corrcspbndonce r orjgihatsd in, a; complaint, which appears to t'refieot'thp'goneral feeling of the State's !'emptyy«S?! &gft}jjati:fbo inabijify.fif, memr. bcrs' of the Service to obiain any redress of grievances/ There is no right ,of appeal in the event of a grievance-and the 'average-Ciyil SQryap,| is subject absolutely ,tp ■ thq, and ajso' tp' 'tjie" w(i|m,. p'f his Departmental superiors, Great dishsatisfaction also exists, it/ woiild seem, vagainst .the checks upon ! the freedom .of the officials outside their, I '.offices:. Discussing, these restrictions edjtorially, the J)ailij News endeavoured to find a way out.of tho difficulty that would not destroy , thq ■ virtues • admittgtjly reside in the present.system;-- ..;•..■.'

.Wo are very well aware that there are good arguments for many of these restrictions. Departmental : discipline must bo maintained. The sevorance of our Civil Servants from politics prevents. the' growth of the pojjtjcal corruption summed; up' oh. the.' other side of the Atlantic in the wprds "graft" and "Tammany." Indeed, if wp anticipated as did the Victoriap individualists a steady ■ uirainutiqn in the activities of the" State and in the number of its employee;, we might:, ]>e prepared to acqujesqe in the present 'systeri].'-, B,nt it is clear, on" tho contrary;, that the -pqniber of public servants is destined, to grow.-. -In that oa.«e, it wil l be impossible to cut off an increasing section of, the community.from the normal rights of citijeiis,' and it ,will' be our business to work out a l 'scheme .whereby Civil Servants : may exercise those rights without danger, to the State as a whole. .This-is. not an easy or simplo matter, and in raising, the question wo desire rather to call attention- to its existon:e than to propound any ono.nicaiis of.solving it.." '. ;! , ..-, , ; .

,The : News, has 'two. rpfdrms to stiggest, however... The first is thp .establishment pf an 'Appeal Board, or the utilisation, of the" Standing Comrnittees of Parjjampn|; as tribunals of appeal. 'The second is the creation of special representation of the Service in. Parliament. .. It is the second of these remedies that calls for notice. The -Newt thinks it i 3 ' '•. most unwise to exclude- from active participation in' politics ap' educated, jnte|ljgpnt ajjd -stJadjjy : pqr : tion of the nation," arid that ''possibly' the solution may be found by, depriving Civil .Servants'of thqir : fight-to Vote in district constituencies and : in creating what one may perhaps call trade or pro:; fpsaipnal constituencies:" Most.'of those 1 in tjiis country-who have given serious, thought to the' problem of averting'the. evil results of the present system when tho already largo array of ■ State embpppmes—as, if the present-rate of growth continues, it will soon become— go bugp as tp exercise' enormous power jp directipg the courps of politics have qf.'.the idea pf special representation. . there arg some:obvious.evils in th|s method of deajing with the problem. '■ fpHe' pressure oj the State; employ, pes. would, -to-be surp, be confined to a bff ridj i) j pf mepibers, instead of being exerted generally, in every constituency. Rut. thp .'tendency undpr speci|l reprpspntation would always be to vote for the party in power, whatpver party.it might be. We have had tho amplest prppf pf this-in the working of the'special representation of tho Maoris. The Maoris .know -wp]l.pnqugh. on. whiph• side tlpr bread is buttered. They will always send fpur Government supporters to Parliament, regardless of what sort of Government; it is. If Mp; Massey .wprp to.so: cure a majority of,: say, half a dozen at the next nlcctipn,,the Maoris, would soon, lie found supporting the new ernment. Or at a critical by-election- in' n -Civil Service constituency the GovcrnMti IP WW woi)|d jnakp such' ap. pffpr as wopld.-lead to the rcturn.;bf''a-flpy, .eminent supporter, unless,'of coursej'. tlie

also the case in which,'thoro boing, say, flvo Civil Service representatives, in thp Hqhso, tho contending .'parties were about equal in strength; Those fivp members could turn the scaje cither way, and thoir votes would* no doubt go to the party that could make the best offer to their constituents.' These.are evils resident in all special representation in liament of trades, of classes or of races. The proposal now before Parliament is the only practicable proposal. It proserves the right of the Civil Servant to vote as a citizen, and it removes the incentive to the abuses that, are oncouraged by the system of Ministerial, control. The creation of an'independent Board, responsible only to Parliament as a whole, will make it impossible for. the Govern-, merit, and unnecessary for the individual member, to sacrifice the general public's interest to ,its or his political necessities. .'*.''■■'•.•