REPORT OF THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2808, 26 July 1866, Page 4

REPORT OF THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION.

Ik May last a commission was issued by his Excellency to Messrs. C. Knight, W. Gisborne, W. Seed, and J. M. Spence, directing them to inquire iato. the efficiency of the several departments of the Civil Service of New Zealand, aud_ to report such improvements as might, in their epinion, promote efficiency and economy, The subject of retiring allowances to the officers of the service, and the manner in which an iucome*tax might be raised, ■WMeolso to come within the scope of the committee's inquiries, but the last-named of these subjects has not yet been reported upon. Among the papers laid before the Assembly are the fh-3t report of the Commission, and also a bill embodying many of the recommendations contained in the repirt. The Commissioners begin their report by referring to the want of organisation in the Civil Servioe of New Zealand, and the necessity for measures to harmonise ils working. A table is then given, made up, the Commissioners state, from the results of inquiries from the banks and principal mercantile firms, of the salaries which services of a kind similar to those rendered by officials usually command in this colony. The result of their inquiries has been to show that, generally speaking, the salaries of the higher grades of officers are less thau those paid to persons in a corresponding station in private establishments. The salaries in banks were given as — manager, £400 to £1,000 ; accountant, £250 to £600 ; teller, £200 to £350 ; ledgerkeeper, £150 to £300; juniors, £50 to £150. The principles upon which the Commissioners thiuk that the proper organisation of the service should be based are — Classification ; promotion from class to class ; salaries with minimum and maximum limits, and with annual increments for each class ; rules of discipline ; retirement and other allowances, in certain crses. It is recommended that classes be made — the first to consist of certain specified officers, whote salaries would be definitely fixed by appropriation, and who would not be entitled to the annual increase provided for other jelasses ; and the four other classes would have maximum and minimum limits of salary, also fixed by appropriation, aiich salary being annually increased between those limits by one-sixth part of the difference between the minimum and maximum rates. Tne number of the first class to be very limited ; the minimum and maximum of the other classes to be as folio -v: — Fifth class, minimum, £80; maximum, £140. Fourth class, mininum, £150 ; maximum, £240. Third class, minimum, £250; maximum, £370. Second class, minimum, £390 ; maximum, £600. All new appointments and promotions to be subject to the new rates, but salaries of present officers in excess of the rates not to be reduced, but such officer not to receive the annual increase. An appeal to be allowed to the Governor in Council by auy officer aggrieved by-the classification, and such appeals may be referred by a Minister to a Board of Inquiry for its advice. The Governor is to have power to abolish and consolidate offices, and provision to be made for some compensation to officers whose services are no longer required, and these officers- to have a preferent^ claim when a racancy occurs in any class not superior to the class occupied at the time of the abolition of such office. The Commissioners say :— *• We think it advantageous that persons entering the service in the fifth class shall be at that age when there is great aptitude for learning a profe-ssion, and we think it necessary that every candidate shall pass a preliminary examination, without competition, and that his first appointment shall be conditional, and upon probation for six months. It would also be advisable that the subordinates entering the fifth class should be selected, so far as practicable, in the province in which the vacancies occur. Promotion is to take place from class to class, and in the four lower classes by rotation, provided the officer next on the list is qualified ; but in filling up vacancies in the fir3t class, we have allowed a much greater latitude of ' discretion, by enabling a selection to be made out of the whole number of officers in the second class. A power of special appointment it given in the 16th section of the bill, but the appoiutment ia only to be provisional, until the Houses of the Legislature have had an opportunity of considering it." The Commissioners, in considering the subject of superannuation, state that' they have ai rived at the conclusion that compulsory or voluntary contribution for the purposes of a benefit society, under the administration of theGovernraent, would be inexpedient; and they state, with considerable force, their reasons for coming to this conclusion. The beat plan, in their opinion, is for the Government to fix certain superannuation and retiring allowances, and then, having regard to such prospective allowance, to assign such unencumbered, salaries as it may think fit. It is recommended that officers formerly in the employment of the New Zealand Company should be allowed to reckon the time of their employment by that company in the computation of their retiring allowance. Officers at sixty years of age are to be superannuated, unless specially required to remain ; speoial provision to be made respecting those officers now in the service who are sixty, or become so in ten years. In accordance wiih the precedent established in the United Kingdom and in the Australian colonies, the Commissioners recommend "that, in cases after ten years' service, where the necessity for retirement, under medical certificate, or otherwise, should arise, the amount granted should be ten-sixtieths of the salary of the superannuated officer on an average of the last three years, and that for every succeeding year the amount should rise by one-sixtieth, until at the end of forty years' service it attain its maximum amount of twothirds of the salary taken on a similar average ; " the Governor to be authorised, where an officer has been disabled in the active discharge of his duty, to grant an allowance at the rate of his salary, and where an officer has been, killed, to grant a year's pay to his family. '1 he Commissioners recommend that in such cases liberal provision should be made. A gratuity may be given to the widow and children of an officer dying while in the service. The report then states the directions in which theCommissioneis think that economical reform in the Civil Service mar be made. They say that " the cost of the administration of justice, by means of paid Resident Magistrates, appears to us excessive, of Wardens, -who are also Resident Magistrates in certain goldfields, and who are paid partly or wholly out of provincial funds, there are 58 pwsons who are .Resident Magistrates paid by the General Government ; and their aggregate annual salaries, exclusively of any other paid appointments which they may hold, amount to £17,804. We recommend that paid Resident Magistrates ihould only be appointed at principal towns, aud in some native districts, and that Petty Sessions, with equivalent powers, under the Petty Sessions Act, 1865, should be substituted in other districts. We would, however, advise ■ome|Jightmodificationsin the prorisiQnsof that Act." In the opinion of the Commissioners twenty paid resident magistrates would be quite sufficient. They recommend that a permanent non -political law officer of the Government should be appointed, who should - transact the legal business of the Government, and conduct prosecutions at the Feat of Government, and elsewhere if required. The judicial correspondence of the Government to be conducted in a branch of the Colonial Secretary's office. The Commissioners believe, that it wilLbe necessary for tha General Government to maintain, for some years, an armed force, and tbpy recommend that the present paid forces of the colony should be substituted by au armed constabulary force, foot and mounted, similar to the Irish armed police. Trustworthy natives could be embodied in that force when it was considered desirable. Various suggestions are made with a view to economy in the other departments, and: changes are recommended in the conduct of elections, both , general' and provincial. , The report is followed by a bill entitled " The Civil Service Bjllj" in which the recommendations we have summarised are embodied, and by which the Governor is empowered to make regulations affecting the service, to be published in the Gazette. ,