THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1704, 22 March 1913, Page 4

THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

. ft REPLY TO MR. RUSSELL, Statements mad*) in tho course of , speech nt Ohrlstohureh by Mr. G. W. Russell, M.P., to tho effect that tho Public Service was seething with discontent as a result of tho institution of thoPublio Service Commission wero submitted to tho Hon. A. L. Herdman on Thursday. "I liavo no hesitation in saying," rov marked tlio Minister, "that Mr. Russell's statement is nonsonso. To begun with, tho. Publio Service Commissioners do not talco/ full charge until April 1. Civil Servants cannot, therefore, know until then what tho Commissioners proposa to do. When 1 the Commissioners nmke {heir full inten-. tions known will bo timo enough to talk about unrest and discontent-. The. Commissioners, since their appointment, havo been olosely investigating Departmental mothods and preparing regulations. When tho propor timo comes they will, I know, have ratify suggestions of great value to tho Service and to the country to .make. It is not to bo expected that any" schemo which aims at doing away with a system which bristled with faults can bo inaugurated without an outcry from somo who imogine that they have not received fair treatment. I havo not heard of anv seething discontent, and ,1 have heard of 110 well-founded criticism of the now system. On the contrary, I liavo every reason to believe that when the work done by tho Commissioners becomes known tho public and the Public Servant will bo convinced that the new system will operate so as to give the deserving Public" Servant a bolter chance of advancement'than lie ever had under a system which recognised political pull as a means of securing an advantage."