STATE OFFICERS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 51, 29 August 1934, Page 5

STATE OFFICERS

STANDARD OF TEAMING

THE ADMINISTRATIVE ART

VALUABLE INSTITUTION

Speaking at the Accountants' Chambers last evening to the Society for the Study of Public Administration, Mr. P. Verschaffelt, C.M.G., Public Service Commissioner, said he was personally in accord with a desire to secure the best training for officers in the service for administrative positions. The question arose, how was that to be accomplished?

"There is no necessity to alter our existing standard of entrance," he said. "This is sufficiently high at present.. I.would encourage our officers to extend, their knowledge and experience by obtaining a university degree, say, particularly in arts; but I would stipulate the subjects ( they should take.- . I would go further. I would select four or perhaps six candidates a year, with a view to further .study.

"This brings me,to the point of discussing the, part that the Institute of Public Administration might take, not only in giving assistance to ourselves, but also in moulding the future adminis-1 trative oflicei's of this country. Some might say that that institute is too widespread in its' scope to be of definite assistance to civil servants as distinct from local body officials, many of whom are amongst its members. But it has to be remembered that as the immediate employees of the Government, civil servants should be concerned with the welfare of tho country as a whole and should therefore be interested in everything that tends to make both Civil Service ' and local body administration as efficient as possible. BEEADTH OF VISION. "If tho Civil Service Institute became a partner in any movement which had for its object tho improvement of public administration generally in this country, the Government and the people would be placed under a debt" of gratitude to tho institute, and undoubtedly such a move would be to the lasting credit of the institute. It is not a question of what each individual would gain through membership, of' the Institute of Public Administration, but what would be the benefit to the country, in whose service it is our privilege to work as its administrative officers. Breadth of vision should be the hall-mark of administrators. However; forgetting for a moment tho community aspect of the matter, we all know that there is at present a .strong body of opinion: current, in the direction of reducing tho number of, local bodies. If anything comes of this it will be necessary for many.administrative officers to know a very great deal about the internal administration' of local bodies, otherwise administration may fall down in giving effect to policy. The officers of the Law Drafting and Crown Law Offices will certainly require to study public administration as applied to local bodies. It is necessary for tho electrical branch of the Public Works Department to know a groat deal about power board administration, for the civil sido of the Public Works Department to know much of the inner workings of county councils, road boards, etc., for the Loans Board to know almost everything about the operations of borrowing authorities.

"The matters mentioned represent I only a few g>ih points in tho mass of information already available in the journal of tho Institute of Public Administration. ' Apart from text books on political science, thero did not exist prior to the formation of the institute in 1922 an organised body of knowledge upon the subjoct of administration. The knowledge existed, but it was only in the minds of separate administrators scattered throughout the "British Commonwealth; it had not been collected, organised, sifted, and tested. This latter task was undertaken by the Institute of Public Administration through its discussion groups and. conferences, but mainly through its journal, which competent authorities state it is impossible to rate too highly for its influence' in raising tho standard of knowledge and of the study of administration as an art." "In regard to the possibility of higher-qualified applicants: I have stated on previous occasions that I am quite prepared to consider any application from any graduate of a university. ; In saying this, however, I wish, to- make clear the fact that although an applicant has obtained a university degree, he is not, on that account, entitled to special consideration for employment in the Public Service. I would be quite prepared to give special consideration to any degree candidate who has completed what might be regarded as a cultural course, say, an arts degree in appropriate subjects. Beyond that I do not think it is necessary for us to,go at the present time." :