EX-SOLDIERS AND PUBLIC SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 51, 28 August 1918, Page 8

EX-SOLDIERS AND PUBLIC SERVICE

REMARKS ON RESIGNATIONS.

Recently the numEer of resignations of returned soldiers from the Public Service was the subject of comment and questions. The matter was referred by the Hon. G. W. Russell to the Public Service Commissioner, who has replied.

The Commissioner stated 1 that as practically all the men concerned were or> temporary work (which, generally speaking, could have become permanent after the settlement of the superannuation difficulty), they were not asked for their reasons for leaving. Therefore, it was only possible to discuss the matter in general terms. From enquiries it was ascertained that returned soldiers disliked- the" positions of night-watchmen or night attendants in telephone exchanges. Indeed, they did not like any night work if it meant loneliness.

It was also known that in some cases men had taken up work beyond their strength. They had begun too soon. The majority of the mien appointed were engaged away from the districts where they had lived formerly, and many took an opportunity to return to suitable work in those places. There was also the fact that many of the discharged soldiers had pensions which made them independent of continuous work.

It is stated that a similar disinclination to stay long in the public service was noticeable among numbers of men who returned from the Boer war.

The Commissioner remarked that he was not surprised, in the circumstances, at the resignations. He believed that in the same circumstances appointments from the civilian population on the same basis would show the same result.

It had been stated that the positions offered had been merely casual, but that assertion had been made under a misapprehension. The great majority of the returned soldiers who accepted work in the public service had received positions which could have been made permanent eventually.