CIVIL SERVICE

Grey River Argus, 28 July 1925, Page 8

CIVIL SERVICE

A writer in the ‘‘N.Z. Worker” says: —Mr Holland sees some reseuiblance between the present position and the position that obtained in .890 before the general election. If ;he Labour Party be successful at the ■nd of this year it will discover a furliter resemblance. One of the snags hat Balia.ice and Seddon struck on reaching office was an unsympathetic Public Service, not the great body of the Public Service, but some of the influential chiefs. The men who come io the. front in the Public Service, un-

ier Conservative Governments, tire Hie men least sympathetic with altruistic idee is. There may be exceptions to that, but on the whole it is true without a doubt. Besides this, of late years, the bounder has had too good a time. J refer to the .man who sets out to be Vnder-Seeretary for this or Chief Engineer for that, and is prepared to sacrifice everybody and everything to get there. In his way he is not without ability but you will find abler men under him, only these men will not sell their souls to achieve bumbledom. If you want to see selfishness in excelsis just work with one of these climbers. You will find that if there should be any mistakes made, the responsibility is not shared but is strictly yours, bu* if there is any kudos to be gained, then the climber sees that the limelight is for himself. When it was reported of Mr Contes that he did not want to be Minister, he went up in. my estimation. 1 recalled Ruskin’s saying —by him borrowed from the Greeks—that nobody governs well who wants to govern, just as nobody teaches well who wants to teach. But if that, is really the spirit in which Mr Coates took up the job, there is little of the nolle episcopari feeling about some of his officials; rather are they prepared t< shoulder everyone out of their way who should stand in it. You will find these same gentlemen prattling before Rotary Clubs. That ideal of the Rotary (Tub, “Service Before Self’’ is an excellent one, but what extraordinary mon the Rotary Club puts forward as exemplars of it I