CIVIL SERVANTS

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 140, 16 June 1933, Page 9

CIVIL SERVANTS

DUTIES AND RIGHTS PRESENT POSITION DISCUSSED At a meeting held by the Xew Zedland Legion at Upper Hutt last even-, ing, Dr. E. Campbell Begg dealt at some length, with the 'question of the position and rights of members of the Civil Service. ■'■'In considering the relation of public servants to their private activities, it is as well to get a clear idea of the class referred to," said Dr.- Begg. "The unemployed and others may be casually employed from State funds, ■but this does not make them public servants in the ordinary sense of the world. There has been no attempt made to< curb their political activities or the oxpressions of them. By public servants in the sense referred to here we anea'u all those who have regularly entered one or other of the services of the State under certain well-defined conditions of service. Their employer in the avocation they have chosen is the' State, though they, might have applied for exactly similar employment under a private individual. . Thus there are no' essential\differencea in regard to qualifications, .e-haraeteiy outlook on life, or--capabilities' between a teacher in tup State school and. a teacher. in a private school; in a lawyer "employed in the Public Trust Office, a. lawyer in private practice, or oiie engaged by a firm; between a message boy in,tho Telegraph Department or one in private employment. LOYALTY AND FREEDOM. "Public servants share with private individuals' the necessity of loyalty to their employer," said Dr..Begg. "The loyalty should be as great in one case as the other. But in addition to his function as an employee, the public servant is also a man. He has his leisure; he may spend this for his own amusement and recreation, for his family life, or in whatever way he, sees fit. But he may also wish to use his private time by contributing something for the benefit of the State and the people-, in the State.. This may be done by literature, by writing on matters of economics, by conferring with others on such fascinating -matters as the history and courseof democratic government, and by expressing his opinion that an altered system of Government to the one under which he scwes would bo of advantage. , . SERVANTS OF THE STATE. "Public servants, being the servantsof the State, are tho servants of-^all the people within tho State, including their fellow public servants and themselves. . . . The real difficulties in regard to the Civil Service rest fundamentally on the custom by which the members -of one party are chosen to bo the executive body, of Parliament. A civil servant is not a servant of the Government in this senso, any more than he is a servant of the Opposition. As long as the Government and tho Opposition are recognised officially, so long will the issue be clouded. LOYAL TODAY, DISLOYAL TOMORROW. 1 "The tovni 'Government' is customarily used t!o denote the party in power and an -executive" derived' from this party,- and therefore such a Government, or Executive might consider it disloyal ,in-a public servant to -express views which did not harmonise with the partitular policies of that Govcrntovent. These' views might by chnuco coincide with those of the' Opposition', and.then the Government might consider that there; was disloyalty :to.itself. However, the present-Opposition niight become the fTOvcrnment in a few months; and then the minds of civil servants would have to change to voice the opposite policy. The loyal public servants of today would be the disloyal ones •of tomorrow .on this standard. ; " "The;existing political position niakeg the attitude to-the Public Service one that, inhibits the, usefulness of tho members of this service in their capacity* as citiz.ens, and viay t cause within, the service such undesirable things, as sycophancy; or hypocrisy on the part of its individuals in order to secure their own position, by a professed and servile adherence' to the party viows of a present or probable executive, or, on the other hand, a feeling of suppression or intimidation in the minds of those Who do not shave-/the economic- views of the party in power. '. " Where the change from- one party to another is rendered smoother by tho presence, of permanent under-seere-' tries, the danger does not exist to tho sanre extent, but'where-the incoming party Ministers become'the imnicdiate superiors of heads of departments, it is very real. As the' Public -Service, an this country, is so widespread that it practically has a monopoly in certain branches of economic lite, the suppression'in" any way, of tho contribution that can be made by these for the good of. tho'Stato-is a definite injury to:the State itself.". . .