STAFF REORGANISATION

Evening Star, Issue 19722, 24 November 1927, Page 13

STAFF REORGANISATION

RAILWAYS AMENDMENT ■ [From Our-Paruamenxakv Reporter. J?. WELLINGTON, November 23. A short'history .of the events leadiug up to the introduction of tiie Oovernment Railways Amendment Bill was given 1 in- the House by the Minister of Railways (Mr Coates) when the Bill was reported back from the Railways Committee with amendments. Mr Coates made it clear that the Bill would embody in the Statute Rook what was already in operation under the 'regulations. It was the outcome of thorough investigations by a committee consisting of a representative of the Post Office, a Public Service officer, and a member of the Railways Department. That committee had taken from 18 months to two years to complete its work and to make its 'recommendations with regard to staffing, promotions, and salaries. There were some 1,300 positions affected, and 130 were of the higher order, and had been revalued. Sir Joseph Ward: Did the committee recommend that men should bo brought into the railway service from outside? Mr Coates: Yes, iu cases - where specialists ore required. Eor instance, it might bo necessary to transfer a teacher from the Education Department for service in a school conducted bv the Railway Department. “it didn’t take mo very long to discover that the Railway Department was not getting the opportunities to promote its bright young men that other departments got,” said Mr Coates. U was unquestionable that uniformity should bo desirable. Uniformity was to the advantage of the department and the officers themselves. This Bill definitely brought the regular reclassification into existence. After speaking of the proposed alteration in the of the />pI eal Board, Mr Coates said *t wmi.d deal with the reclassification of the whole service. It would handle hundreds of eases. Under the present system it worked only spasmodically. Several small amendments have been made to the Government Railways Amendment Bill by the Railways Committee. The principal alteration provides that no regrading of the First Division shall Into place unless and until it has been approved by the Minister of Railways. Another amendment gives any member of the First or Second Division the right of appeal against any appointment made by tne Minister. , , Mr E. J. Howard • Christchurch Norm;, ns a member of the committee, criticised the Bill, tailing particular exception to the proposal that officers with salaries of over <C76d should bo appointed by the Governor •General, while all others arc to bo appointed by the Minister, and he wanted to know on what principle this distinction was drawn. Further, ho wondered wby tlie former officers were to have no right of appeal, while the others had that right. He criticised other clauses which ho had opposed in committee, and explained that his anxiety about the measure was duo to his conviction that he would at an early date be Minister of Railways, and he desired to see the law as perfect as it was humanly possible to make it. Sir Joseph "Ward said he disliked very much what the House was being asked to do in the Bill, and he hoped the House would he given full opportunity fo discuss the measure. It .seetged to him that the Minister was being given power to bring in any outsider he liked, and appoint him to any high office in the service. Were, he asked, capable men with long service to be passed- over by the Minister and outsiders given preference? _ Capable, and efficient men of long service should not be passed over in the manner proposed in the Bill. Mr IT. E. Holland (Leader of the Opposition) said lie had received protests from railways organisations In every part of tho country against the constitution of the Appeal Board. The provision which enabled the appointment to he made of outsiders over the heads of tried railway servants could not bo too strongly condemned. Quite a number of measures hitting Government employees over the head with a club had been introduced during the last days of the session.

The "report of the committee was agreed to.