PUBLIC SERVICE CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume XCV, Issue 70, 22 March 1918, Page 4

PUBLIC SERVICE CONTROL

EFFICIENCY OR ECONOMY?

to the uditob,

Sir,—l read through your - lengthy leader of the 13th instant on the above subject, while absent from Wellington, and I considered it of sufficient interest to go into the matter a little more deeply than either yourslf or the Hon. Mr. -Hanan have done-, henoe the delay in my reply. I take the opportunity of notingwith pleasure the frank admission of appreciation which your paper is. ever ready to give our public men in their-, earliest efforts to carry out their functions, and your tribute to the Hon. Mr. Hanan is well placed. You say that "the Minister has said too much or too little." You are,, quite correct. . Mr. Hanan, having gone so far, should have placed the full facts of the position before the public. He has not done so, and having a very fair knowledge of the position, and having given the matter a little earnest, consideration, I would respectfully: beg to place a few facts before your/ readers which were omitted from your leader. Have you, Sir, considered the position from the points of efficiency or economy ? ' Apparently not. because had you done so you would have pbssibly given some approximate idea of the ramifications of tins part of the Ship of State.. . ,

According to the last Estimates of exexpenditure, etc., which Parliament : was asked to pass hurriedly last session, I _ notice that this Dominion has to provide over two and a-quarter millions of, money as an annual charge for salaries alone. This expenditure is required in the administration of Departments which have to deal with ah annual estitimate for "other charges" of an amount of over lour and a-half million pounds. These amounts are exclusive of the railway estimates which provide for a sum of over £130,000. I think the figures quoted, which are largely on the inside margin, .warrant some definite and drastic action being 'taken by the National Government in the interests of the public welfare. I maintain that there is a very large amount wasted in salaries and loss in efficiency, and that it is absolutely a superhuman task to expect the present Commissioner, Mr. D. Robertson, to deal with it. I maintain that the _ extravagance is not unknown to the Ministry, and neither is the present unsatisfactory state of the Publi<\ Service either. Perhaps there is no more ludicrous amount set down in the\ estimates than £900 for advertising vacancies in the Public Service. It is a notorious fact that the vast maojrity of these vacancies have, been filled long before they have been advertised. I do not' say that all appointees are in these cases not worthy, but why not abolish the hypocrisy and not try and hoodwink the members' of the service and the general public in this respect. Mr. Maasey, Sir Joseph Ward, and the vest of the Ministers know to what great extent this system of. hypocrisy is practised,- and I say, Sir, 'it does them no credit- as public men. Is it little wonder then that a feeling of resentment has been enkindled in the hearts "of men and women who have given their whole lives to the State Service? It may be asked if the service is a- satisfied one which is working harmoniously. The Hon. Mr. Russell knows that it is not. , You, Sit', have, I overlooked the fact that a short time ago an action was being taken in the _ Supreme Court to obtain redress against anomalies and grave injustices on over fifty counts, and it was only owing to the energetic ,-appeal made .to' the PubHe Service Association by the Hon. Mr. Russell that_ it was agreed to ]et the matter stand* over in the meantime. It is also an established fact that while extravagance- is- practised on one hand in the 'service parsimony is carried out with the other. One has ortly to look at the scale of overtime allowed to the officers of the service of many long years' standing and compare it with the awarde allowed to the rank and file "of skilled and unskilled workers. The wharf labourer is exceedingly better off, and the miners and bushwhackers are kings as compared to those in the service. It is ;i fact that no serious attempt has. been made to get what is best in the service from the officers. No encouragement is given; no kindly words or actions rule, #nd consequently there is no healthy spirit of emulation existent. ■ '

No, Sir, a breach lias been created similar to that which has unfortunately growiv up between Labour and Capita], and more is. the pity that it should lie so. The one- outstanding point of the whole matter is the callous indifference shown in respect of the position by tho two National Leaders. . My. Hercimiui. no doubt, thought that the millennium would' be> reached when this uselaw and cumbersome system was introduced,, but I can imagine what his feelings wer» during the last stages of his political career. It is a fact that for wime considerable tims previous to his elevation to the Bench this gentleman took very ■little interest in the impossible position which he in good faith created en his assumption to Ministerial office. We have boards galore set up as panaceas, but why is not a Boyal Commission set up with full order of reference to try and get at the bottom of the matter? Is the Government afraid to tackle the question ? Apparently so. It is .not British fair play to shelter themselves at the expense of the Public Service Commissioner, Mr. Donald. Robertson, who has given many years' public service as head of the Postal Department- which have been highly valued. Those who know Mr. Robertson best know .full well that he lias been unjustly made the buffer between Ministers arid the members of the service. -This is not right, and it ft only a reasonable .proposition to ask the leaders of the Government to seriously deal with this mutter before they leave the shores of New Zealand. We used to hear a great deal of talk about what the Departmental pigeon holes would reveal, at one time. The revelation has I been a long time in coming, so I suppose that since the coalition everything is in _ this respect above board. I' 1 feel certain that there are a number of retired Government officials who have held high positions and are resident in Wellington | whose opinions on the present system would be of great value from ait impartial standpoint, and they should be asked by the Government for a candid report on the position of the Public Serviqe to-day as compared with, say, that priorto the Commissioner control. Anticipating the publication of this rather lengthy letter, —I am, etc., . A. NEWBUR-N. ■ 20th March.