PUBLIC SERVICE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 267, 27 October 1916, Page 3

PUBLIC SERVICE.

A QUESTION OF PROMOTION

AA’ellington, Oct. 27. In May last the Public Service Commission advertised several vacancies for clerkships in the Public Trust Office. The Public Trustee selected two officers in the State Guaranteed Advances Department to fill positions. The permanent head of that Department objected to their transfer, but as his objection stood in the way of their promotion the Public Service Association protested against the action of the hegd of the Department. This appeal has now been upheld on the basis of opinion given by the Solicitor-General.

In the course of his opinion Mr. Salmond says: —Speaking generally an officer should be regarded as entitled of right to an appointment if he be suitable for it in respect of experience, ability and character, and if the best of the applicants, therefore to retain him in an inferior position because his promotion will cause inconvenience in the Public Service would not in ordinary circumstances be justifiable. If any Department thinks it necessary to retain an officer in its service, the proper method is to pay him as high a salary as he is worth in any other department. If he is not receiving such salary, his promotion to another department could not reasonably be objected to. The Board would be justified in requiring- that a strong . case of unavoidable public inconvenience should be made out before depriving an officer of any substantial promotion to which he would be otherwise entitled.