THE PUBLIC SERVICE

Evening Star, Issue 24016, 15 October 1941, Page 11

THE PUBLIC SERVICE

FINE WAR CONTRIBUTION PREMIER'S TRIBUTE (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 14. Mr T. Pound, president of the New Zealand Public Service Association, in his address at the opening of the annual conference of the association today, referred to the fact that the membership was now over 18,000. Ho described the organisation as a purely voluntary and non-political one. “ We believe that by being non-poli-tical we can give better loyalty to the Government of the day than if we were otherwise,” Mr Pound said, “ and in this respect we feel that our loyalty to the Government goes without saying. There is also a wider loyalty due from us, and there is no warrant for individuals or organisations passing resolutions reflecting on the loyaltv of the Public Service. We do not admit that those individuals have a monopoly of loyalty, and I think that the passing of resolutions about it is a very negative kind of loyalty in itself. “ During the last two years,” he continued, “we invested £7,500 in Government war loan, and, apart from local patriotic efforts, our members decided to start a patriotic fund of their own. We decided to contribute small amounts deducted monthly from our salaries. That scheme has been a wonderful success. The association has made a straightout donation of £SOO to the patriotic funds, and from that little fund of our own we have already paid to the patriotic funds a sum of more than £IO,OOO, and we are adding te that at tiie rate of £OOO a month. “ I admit.” Mr Pound said, “ that all this is as nothing compared with j the great sacrifices being made by T more ! than 0,000 of our members who are in i the lighting forces. That figure repro- | seats 17 per cent, of our membership, | and does nob include those in the Territorials and oil home defence. Already we know that many of them will not come back. “ We do not want credit for what we are doing in this connection,” Mr Pound said. “ We arc prepared to give and not count the cost, hut if there is to lie one thing or the other—credit or criticism —then I feel wo are entitled to credit.” The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said that in listening to the record of the association he felt pardonable co-opera-tive pride in its achievements. Many calls had been made on the Public Service, and never on one occasion had the Government appealed for assistance in vain. Touching on the question of resolutions, Mr Fraser said that some people had a weakness for passing resolutions. A society never felt that it had justified its existence until it had passed at least one resolution. Then it went on passing resolutions on every subject, and, indeed, became what might be termed a “ resolutiouary ” sort of organisation. “ Sometimes 1 long for a resolution, particularly when it is opposed to the Government,” Mr Fraser said, “ because it shows what strength and what psychology are behind it. I think the

president can console himself with an adaptation of a line from Omar Jvhayvam— ‘ It came like water, and like wind it goes.’ Most of the resolutions are passed by organisations that take themselves too seriously, and others are so unimportant that they should merely be noted and sometimes conveniently lost. ~ “The association,” Mr I raser said. “ has placed the requirements of its members before Minister after Minister and Government after Government in a long procession, and it has always done so courteously and firmly, and in a way that has shown the association a interest in the welfare of the country and the efficiency of the Public Service. I have never received anything but the greatest help from the association. While I have a great respect for the fine public services I came in contact with overseas—l yield to no one in my appreciation of their great ability—l say quite frankly that I do not think there is anv pu&lic service superior to our own. "That is not boosting this country. It is simply looking facts in the face. Looking at the Public Service now and at the very fine young men and women who are joining it. 1 have no fear for its future in tins Dominion.” NEW COMMISSIONER. The possibility of an announcement about a permanent appointment to the post of Public Service Commissioner being made within a week was mentioned by the Prime Minister. Ihe appointment of Mr <l. H. Boyes in place of the late Mr T. Mark was still only a temporary one, Mr Fraser said, and he thought the position must he unsatisfactory to Mr Boyes himself. He hoped a decision would bo reached before the conference ended. The subject had been mentioned in the annual report, which said there was every sign that the appointment of Mr Boyes as acting commissioner was pleasing to the service.