'NOT EXTRAVAGANT'

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 111, 6 November 1929, Page 12

'NOT EXTRAVAGANT'

INCREASED STAFFS

IN CIVIL SERVICE

LOWER COST PER HEAD

A section of the annual report of the Public Service Commissioner presented in the House of Eepresentatives yesterday, is. devoted to an explanation and a justification of the numerical staff expansion in the various branches of the Service in recent years. The Commissioner (Mi-. P. D. N. Verschaffelt) remarks that thero is a tendenc3" for ' 'short-run " political -considerations, and the immediate effect from a fiscal point of view to eclipse all other considerations, entirely obscuring the farreaching social and economic advantages of the services rendered.

Tables are quoted to show the expansion that has taken place in social, developmental, trading, and administrative services since 1913, and Mr. Vets- 1 chaffelt justifies in turn the increases j in staffs in the various Departments. Speaking generally, he says it is-' obvious that unless there is a radical change in policy the'staffs of the social service departments must expand with the increase of activities consequent upon the growth, of population. The two principal factors causing the enlargement of staffs in this section of the Service, in addition to'the natural development in sympathy with the growing population, are the increase in the number of patients in mental hospitals, and the extension" of the activities of the Health Department relating to - dental work and school hygiene, etc. The increase in the staff of the Public Works Department has been necessitated by the growth of the activities, in connection with railway construction, roads, and highways, and hydro-electric development. Similarly, the Commissioner deals with other Departments in turn. \ ALTERED PROCEDURE. "Apart from the foregoing particulars of essential and inevitable increase in the staff in the last fifteen years, due to national development, 11 says Mr. Versehaffelt, "it should be mentioned that staff companies with 1913 and earlier periods are obscured by reason of the fact that prior to the introduction of Commissioner control a large .number of temporary employees were paid out of appropriations other than salaries. These now appear under that head, making the inflation of the salary charge appear greater than it actually is. Another factor which has tended, to swell the salary bill, but which is merely a, readjustment showing a compensating reduction of another item, has been the conversion of emoluments to salary, which hitherto were shown under the heading of free rations, lodging, quarters, etc. Free issues in- kind were abolished by the Commissioner because of the abuses associated -with this practice. The salary bill appeal's to be heavier, whereas actually, in this connection, there haa be.en an economy in the total expenditure. EVERY OFFICER JUSTIFIED. "Where the expansion of staff is clearly the outcome of the normal development of the country coupied with the over-increasing demand for additional services, it is both erroneous and unfair to ascribe.the increased\ -urden to extravagant administration. The Public Services of this country are run efficiently and economically. There is a plain reason for the presence of every person employed, and any curtailment of expenditure is not a matter of organisation, but of Government policy, as it lies with the Government to determine whether it jvill discontinue or curtail' services which time and experience have shown to be essential for the full "development of the Dominion on a broad national basis." In an analysis of the cost of the Public Service, the Commissioner points out that the expenditure has increased by approximately 65 per cent, during the last decade and a half. "The increase in debt charges and pensions, which are largely a legacy from the late war, accounts for nearly threefourths of this expansion, "/he reports. "In regard to public expenditure which may be attributed to the cost of administration and the giving effect to Government policy, the greatest increase has been in connection with the extension of social services, the cost of which has increased from £2,123 Slo in 1913-14 to £.6,292,930 in 1928-29. The cost of administration has not increased to anything like the same extent as the expenditure under the other headings. In the fifteen years it has risen from £582,0G0 in. 1913 to £1,287,----917 for the last financial year, while on the adjusted figures' actually there has been a decrease in the cost per capita, the charge for general administration per capita being £1 3s Gd in 1913-14 and 17s Sd in 1928-29."—'