MORE JOBBERY.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 384, 30 November 1889, Page 2

MORE JOBBERY.

Still the merry political jobbery goes on, and the long list of jobs the Atkinson Government will have to answer for when the day of reckoning comes will take a long time to count up. Retrenching at the one end, threatening to cut down the workmen’s wages, and yet dispensing patronage with a hand that is more liberal to its favorites than it is just to the community. But the Wellingi ton Post has an eye on all these little transactions, and being in a position to watch the workings behind the scenes, burdened taxpayers are occasionally treated to a glimpse of . how the strings are pulled in our political clockwork. The recent appointment of Mr Thomas, accountant of the Public Works Department, to the position of Official Assignee in Christchurch, has (says the Post) occasioned a good deal of unfavorable comment both within and without the service. There is nothing to say against Mr Thomas personally. He has for years been an exemplary Civil servant, and has kept the books of his department excellently, so as to satisfy all the demands of the Audit and Treasury. But what does Mr Thomas know of ordinary commercial business? He has been for many years in a very bad school to learn anything. The routine and account keeping of a Government office are not such as prevail in mercantile business, and no mercantile firm requiring the services of an accountant would accept service ia a Government department as in itself much of a recommendation. In many cases it would be regarded as the very reverse. The position of an Official Assignee is a very responsible one. It demands a good deal more than mere facility in dealing with figures. Commercial knowledge is an essential requisite, and a knowledge of law would be very desirable. The Official Assignee is an officer of the Justice Department, and if the position had to be conferred on a Government official, we certainly think that an officer of that department ought to have had the promotion. There must be in the Courts of the colony several officers of considerable experience who are in every way qualified for the position, having been brought into constant contact with commercial business and knowing a good deal of law. There is, we know, considerable dissatisfaction in the Department at the way in which officers in it are passed over in favor of those from other Departments, or outsiders, when any chance of promotion offers. So far, indeed, from getting promotion, we believe that in a great many instances officers have had' their salaries reduced, and, with the exception of a few in the Undersecretary’s office, there have been practically no increases for a long time past.