MINISTER'S PLEA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1937, Page 10

MINISTER'S PLEA

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

MODERN ADMINISTRATION

MEDALS PRESENTED

The gold medal for Research of the New Zealand Society of Accountants was presented to Messrs. C. L. Bishop, Wellington, and A. Leese, Auckland, at a function held yesterday afternoon. The two recipients were awarded equal first prize for their theses submitted in the society's contest, the sul> ject being "Local Authority Finances and Accounts."

"For two reasons it gives me great pleasure to represent the Government at this function; in the first place because the Government desires to congratulate those who are to be honoured by the society this afternoon; and secondly because the Society of Accountants is to be commended for promoting investigations into a sphere of activity in which all governments are vitally interested," said the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. Parry), in making the presentation. "With the growing complexity and extensiveness of modern government, elected officials, be they ever so willing or hard-working, are unable to proceed far. without the expert advice of permanent civil servants to whom administration is not only a life's job, but a life interest. The elected official has the onerous tasks of deciding what the country needs and the action to be taken to meet that need, but when the decisions have been made, the permanent official has the exacting job of executing them with, the minimum of friction. The methods of yesterday are quite unsuitable for the world of 'tomorrow, and consequently there can be lio finality in this matter of: government and administration. The effective administrator must be a man who is not only-receptive of new ideas but also'one who can so execute the Government's decision that they -translate, .the spirit o*:the policy into action. • REORGANISATION NEEDED. "As time goes on I am forced more, and more to the conclusion that for government ;in. the. modern world we must design a modern administration. One has only to turn to the affairs of Europe in the.last decade to realise the importance of an effective admin-, istration. There is little doubt that the growing technicalities of the modern world have placed the administrator in a more and more important position. He .should never be placed in 'the position ,of having to make political decisions, for it is the function of the man who represents the people to make such decisions; but he has the responsibility of providing the expert knowledge to carry out, those decisions, and therefore . he- must guard against the two great dangers to which public servant^ are prone — (1) the danger of stagnation and satisfaction with the conditions of the past, and (2) the danger' of becoming a bureaucrat who determines how the law shall be administered without reference to the wishes of the legislature and the people. "Parliament, .through the Ministers of the Crown and the elected councils of local authorities, is alone directly responsible for all administrative acts, arid -even after all the relevant information has ■ been supplied by permanent officers the elected official must make the decision which is to 'determine what administrators will do. "Democracy, if it is to function effectively, or in fact if it is to continue as a vital force in the world of tomorrow, must provide machinery which cony bines initiative and progress with the j system of representative institutions i such as we know them. Too frequently in the past have we been satisfied with the status quo, and have attempted mere- spasmodic improvements i without reference to the fundamental ■ needs of the situation. One of the '. great defects of the modern political j machine is the impossibility of any ', one man or class of men appreciating . all the implications of his actions in , any one sphere. ■ ; TOO LITTLE EVIDENCE. "The work which we gather this afternoon to pay honour to represents to my mind a type of investigation of . which there is all too little evidence in. ; New Zealand at the present time. It ■ represents an .examination of the system of local government administra- i tion as it is, with ,the idea of suggest- ' ing how it can be improved. We who are on the elected side of modern government, and have the responsibility for .political decisions, feel more and more the. necessity for the facts of governments to be placed before us stripped of all the necessary detail of day-to-day routine and yet sufficiently illuminating to show us the core of the problem. One has only to look at the ■ accounts of local bodies as at present published to realise the impossibility for the layman to get any information at all .from • the figures, and yet democracy can only function effectively if the facts of the situation are patent to every citizen. It is not sufficient to devise a scheme which only experts can understand; for such a move leads to bureaucracy, which is the negative of the system which v».; all desire. NEED FOR RESEARCH. "There is need for fundamental research in public administration at the present time from several points of view, but the point which I would like to stress this afternoon is the fact that the Government and the country is only as good as its administrative side. I have been very impressed of late to note the new attitude of public servants in particular, local body officials, in other countries. The National Association of Local Body Officers in Great Britain has as its motto for its members "Better service to the citizens as a whole.' In other words, this institution attempts to inculcate into their members the proposition that their official duties are not merely a 'job' but are a privilege, and constitute a duty to the community. Many countries of the world are examining the problems of the local officer'with a view to producing an official not only better qualified technically, but also more socially minded; an officer in other words who can visualise his tasks in the light of the requirements of the citizenary and of the nation as a whole. . "We have from time to time in New Zealand made strenuous efforts to in--1 crease the efficiency and effectiveness of our national civil service, in which 1 I include our local Government service. It is work such "as has been done in the 1 theses which were submitted by the ; two gentlemen who are to/be honour--1 ed this afternoon which encourages me to believe that local government offi- ; rials are today seized of the importance of their tasks and that they, with all ■ who have the welfare of New Zealand :at heart, are desirous that only the very best men shall be responsible for '■ the administrative side of local govern- • ment Local government reform such as is proposed in the legislation to be introduced next session will not react . favourably to New Zealand unless at . the same time it is associated with men 1 who are able to carry out their func- ■ tions most effectively and who realise : the social implications of their duties." ■ Mr. C. H. Wynyard. president of the society, who was in the chair, congra-

tulated the winners on their success and thanked the other contestants.

Mr. T. Jordan, of Masterton, president of the Municipal Association, said that he hoped the competition would result in the standardisation of local accounts. It was only as it should be that the prize should be won by two town clerks. The book containing the theses, which was in course of publication, should be on the shelf of every borough councillor in the Dominion.

Mr. E. W. Wise, Mayor of Eastbourne, of which Mr. Bishop is town clerk, also extended his congratulations.

' Messrs. Leese and Bishop suitably replied.