CIVIL SERVANTS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 12, 9 October 1917, Page 5

CIVIL SERVANTS

'(To the Editor.) ■Sir, —l' see he is at it. again. I did think he would have grown . wiser bj this time.* Has he not learnt-that one class of the community has r.o.right to special treatment in the matter of the troubles and disabilities caused by the war? If the newspaper account of what took placo at the interview of the Civil Servants' deputation with tho Prime Minister is correct, one wonders at the colossal assurance of this body in criticising' the action of the Ministry, but it is'only a sample of the : present attitude of employees; the maw is as good as'his master, and there is groat laoV of reverence of authority. Further, this body actually asked to have ono of their number wit upon the Cost of Living Committee. If they havo one member, why not tho butchers and bakers'and candlestick makers, and all such havo their representor tives? What a committee it would be! It seems that the Civil Servants-aro to have a war bonus, and here, if I am correctly informed, they havo a valid grievance. The bonus is to be given only to those whose salary-is below a certain sum. How is this limit fixed? Do those whose salaries are above tho limit havo no_ increase;of expenditure owing to war prices? 'Bid not some of those having the highest salaries got a bonus last year, _ leaving some betweon them and the limit above referred to out in the cold? I am in full sympathy with the Civil Servants'on this, matter of grievance. A. creat deal is made of the idea that the Government can step in and fix- fi>n price of at least article.? of food. But the law of supply and demand cannot be brushed aside even by a Government. Fix tho price_ of butter, for instance, at what the Civil Servants no doubt wnnld like, say. ono shilling per pound. Soon buttermakers, with the increased cost of living and of labour, would give up ils manufacture, butter would bo scarce, and the Civil Servant would have to give,' perhaps, 2s. a pound for it. The Prime Minister pointed out this aspect of the question. No, _ the Civil Servant must malce up his mind to share with the rest of us in the burdens of the.war, and not to try and get more favoured treatment.' —T am, etc., CHAR. P. POWLES. Wellington, October 8, 1017.