OVERWORKED MINISTERS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1940, 24 December 1913, Page 4

OVERWORKED MINISTERS.

It. is one of the remarkable features of our political system that Ministers of the Crown habitually overwork themselves to an extent that finds its natural result in damaged health and sometimes . in prematurely shortened life, To a great extent this is due to tho exigencies of the parliamentary session, with its eternal bickering and insane extension of hours, but even apart from the session Ministers aro loaded down with work in a way_ that no self-respecting trades unionist, devoted to eight-hour principles, would tolerate for a moment. It is no doubt an indication of devotion to public duty that Ministers should load themselves with work in the present fashion, but tho thing is undoubtedly carried to excess, and, patting other questions aside, it is pretty evident that a Cabinet- Minister who is perpetually . fatigued from attending to a multiplicity of duties is not likely to be in a condition to. do full justice either to himself or to the duties of the responsible position which ho holds. Apart from the important reform effected, the present Government took a com-mon-sense step in transferring the administrative control of the Public Service to independent Commissioners directly responsible to Parliament, and tiie reasonable coum seems to be to continue on the same lines by unloading other minor functions which have no necessary connection with the office of a responsible Minister of the Crown. Much vexatious detail work ■ would, ! for instance, be lifted from tho overburdened shoulders of the members of the Administration if the allocation of the grants which are now made upon the Publie Works Estimates were delegated to a non-politi-cal authority. This particular reform will no doubt be accomplished in the near future. The Minister immediately concerncd is, of course, tho one in charge of the Pu'blic Works Department, but the deputation in search of a grant is apt to pour its request into the ear of the first. Minister it can find. In addition to a material reform of this character, there must be a- great deal of detail work connected with the various Departments which now comes under the review of Ministers, but might very well be left to the permanent heads. Members of the Opposition made a great noise during the recent session, whenever they found in an amending Act a proposal to delegate authority to a State official instead of to a Minister, but assuredly Ministers will have tlw approval of every reasonable man and woman in the community if fliey a'o everything' they can to reduce tho labours of office to reasonable dimensions. Various proposals have been put forward from time to time which aim at relieving Ministers from some portion of their at present too onsrous duties, but apart from the obvious course of unloading details which can very well be left to other hands, none of these proposals seems likely to prove acceptable. The suggestion was revived some time ago that Parliamentary _ Undcr-Secretarics might bo appointed to relieve Ministers of some portion of their sessional work, but it has found few advocates, and has been allowed t', drop back again into oblivion. Tho mere fact that the Government has power, under the Legislature Act, to appoint an honorary Minister, anrl that no' such member has yet been added to the existing Administration. in itself indicates that the present Ministers, at all events, are not eager to delegate any of their more- important responsibilities. Probably, in this matter time will work its own cure. Major questions of policy are rapidly coming to demand an over-increasing share of the attention of the Ministers of the Crown, and before long, at the present rate, of progress, they will find it a sheer impossibility to perform the multitudinous duties that now fall to their lot, and will of necessity unload those that arc least important.