PUBLIC SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 119, 16 November 1914, Page 3

PUBLIC SERVICE

QUESTION OF APPEALS. The following statement with ' reference to the right of appeal under the Public Service Act, 1912, has been issued from the Prime Minister's Office : An interpretation of that part of the Public Service Act, 1912, which provides for appeals, especially in the matter of promotion, has been recently adopted by the Public Service Commissioner, and to a certain extent by the Supreme Court. That interpretation, has an 'effect widely different from what was intended by the Government when the Act wae introduced and passed. Both the Prime Minister _ and the Attorney- General stated while the Act was before Parliament that a full right of appeal was granted in cases of promotion,', ais. in other cases, and to that posiClbn the Government has always adhered. The Government proposes next session to insist that the Act must be so amended as that it shall be clear beyond question that every public servant, whether or not he has applied for appointment to a new or a vacant office, and whether or not he has applied for promotion, shall have full right of ap peal in the case of aJI appointments to any office in the Service. It is clear from the Act as it now reads that the intention was that the discretion of tne Commissioner should be exercised, always subject to review by the several Appeal Boards, and that intention must be expressed in plain, terms in the amending Act. {