PUBLIC SERVICE

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1929, Page 8

PUBLIC SERVICE

COMMISSIONER’S -REPORT. WELLINGTON, November 5. “In recent years, the complexity of modern life -has created a whole new range of civic and national problems, chiefly in connection with health, education and social ’amenities, and any criticism of review of the cost of publie administration must take these considerations into account,’ states the annual report of the Public Seivice Commissioner. The . report adds thpt where the expansion of staff is the outcome of the normal development of the country, coupled with the ever increasing demand for additional services, it as both erroneous and Unfair to ascribe; the increased burden to extravagan administration. The public services of this country are run efficiently and economically. There, is plain reasonfor the presence of every person employed, and any curtailment of expenditure is not a matter of organisation, but of Government -policy, as it lies with the Government to determine whether it will discontinue oi curtail services which time and ex- 1 perience have shown to be essential for the full development of the Dominion on a broad national basis. After making allowance for reductions and increases to the staff during the past financial year, there has been a net addition of 228 in the personnel of the public service. These increases have been mainly in departments which are giving expression to the Government policy by way of increased social services and the promotion of the development of the country. General administration costs have not increased in proportion to Ihe expansion- of the total burden, for in 1913-14 the expenditure under Ihis head represented 151 per cent of the total expenditure from the Consolidated Fund, and in 1925-29 general administration expenses amounted to only 74 per cent of the total charges. These figures bear evidence of the care and economy exercised in matters pertaining to the general administration and in any criticism of the growing burden on the Consolidated Fund, it should be borne in mind that' this is directly related to the evergrowing demand for increased governmental services, and that any cm tailment is a matter of general policy rather than. a question of “tighteningup the slack” in the general administration of the public service. A comparative statement of the salaries and personnel of the public service shows that during the last decade the increase in the permanent, staff has been 1428, while the increase in salaries has been £808.251. Considering the expansion of public business in recent years, the growth' in the staff in the public service proper has been, kept down to a much closer degree than is generally realised. The greatest increase has been in connection with the extension of social services, the cost of which has increased from £2,123,815 in 1913-14, to £6,292,930 in 1928-29. The cost of administration has not increased to anything like the same extent as the expenditure under the other headings. In fifteen years it has risen from £882,060 in 1913, to £1,287,917 for the last financial year, while on adjusted figures it will be noted that actually there has been a decrease in cost per capita, the charge for general administration per capita being £l/3/6 in 1913-14, and 17,/S in 1928-29, There has undoubtedly been considerable growth in the public expenditure when such term includes expenditure by local authorities, but the inclusion of such figures in criticism of the cost of administration of the public service rather confuses the issue, as the control of such expenditure does not rest with the Ministers in charge of departments and other State officials who are responsible for the economical administration of the public (Service. The extent of the expansion of activities by local authorities may be gauged from the ftvet that in 1919 the amount paid in salaries and wages to the employees of local authorities was £2,172,668, and in 1928, it had grown to £6,176,856. The amount paid in salaries to officers subject to the provisions of the PublicService Act was £1,431,720 in 1919, and £2,239,971 in 1929, a considerably lower ratio of increase. Although on accoupt of the fundamental differences* in policy between State undertakings and private business the rela- 1 ■five efficiency cannot be judged entirely on a profit and loss basis, it can be claimed that the standard of intelligence of staffs and the efficiency of methods employed in the public ser-' vice compares very favourably with outside standards. The last re-grading took place, in 1924 and another general re-grading is now engaging attention.