PUBLIC SERVICE

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 6 May 1921, Page 6

PUBLIC SERVICE

PREFERENCE TO EX-SOLDIERS,

REPLIES TO MR ALDRICH.

Last week Mr R. J. F. Aldrich, Secretary of the Wellington Returned Soldiers' Association, stated that no notice was being taken of the promise 'that preference should »be given to reJburned soldiers where vacancies occurred in the Public Service. - The Public Service Commissioner (Mr -W R. Morris) states that what Mr Aldrich. said was not in accordance with fact. Special consideration had given to returned soldiers when "there were temporary positions available, and special arrangements were !inade to induce such men to quality permanent positions, but in the majority of instances the men did not 'avail themselves of the means of iqualiEcation. Now, -when the Commisfwoner was employing an efficient oinW to go round the Departments to what economies could be effected j without loss of efficiency, instances had occurred when returned soldiers had "expressed the opinion that they should ' be kept on in preference to permanent -hands, which, of course, was quite absurd. The conditions on which tem;.porary employment in the Government > was given were as follow: i (a) That the employment is during S pleasure. \ (b) That the rate of pay is — - r (c) That your services may be terminated at any time by the head of the Department. :- (d) That any privileges afforded ?.>% the Public Service Act, 1912, or Is? regulations made thereunder, wall \ ' not apply to your case, except where f: otherwise provided, i (c) That the employment now of;C. fered will not lead to permanent en-

C" gagement. (This clause, however, is '" not to be understood as meaning that temporary employment is a bar to permanent engagement.) r'The above showed clearly, added Mr iVMorris, that it was never anticipated such temporary employment was 'to be permanent. It had only been ', given in order that men might have a chance to look round after their re-' " turn from the front. At the same time - the Government had instituted classes >~to enable men to qualify for per- . manent Government employment, not ; -with very satisfactory results. The Vgeneral experience was that men who >~had been away wished to do something , different to what they had been engagin before enlistment, so tradesmen , «f all kinds were found doing clerical ,*work as temporary hands; some of the Government's own' clerks who had /gone away had sought other and outride employment. Now, however, when * economies, in the service had to be effecbed, it" was natural to weed out the temporary men whose services were not ~required. Being unnecessary, the Government could not keep them on. That ■was- according to the agreement which the men signed when tbey took a tem.porary appointment. There was an in--1 stance on record where a man was given a temporary positiqn, and when it was found that his services were not required, he not only objected to his but got others to use evejy means to influence his retention. This was a case of how a - man who was given, preference might ~:l)e considered to have broken his • agreement. Mr Morris said that Mr Aldrich was not justified in making the statement he did, for the very reverse had been ,* the case. But, with the whole country calling out for retrenchment, the least they could do was to "ascertain which of the- temporary hands were unnecessary, - and dispense with their services. That in some cases such men were returned soldiers could not very well be helped.