CIVIL SERVANTS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 October 1929, Page 6

CIVIL SERVANTS

RIGHTS IN BRITAIN. (British Official: Wireless)., RUGBY, Sept. 30. The King lu]s approved the appointment of a Royal Commission on Civil Service Hinder the Chairmanship of Lord Tomlin. There are fifteen, members of the Commission, including educational authorities and persons connected with public work. Five of the Commissioners are women, namely: The Duchess of Atlioll, who is a Conservative Member of Parliament; A’lrs Ayston-Gould; Airs Hamilton, who is a Labour Member’of Parliament; Airs Lowe, and Airs Wintringliem, wbo formerly ,ivas a Liberal Alember of Parliament. The terms of reference are: To enquire into and report on.— Firstly: The structure and organisation of the Civil Service, including that of its recruitment. Secondly: The conditions of service, with particular reference to tbe general standard of remuneration, and the existing differentation between tbe remuneration payable respectively to men and women; the Civil Servants’ machinery for the discussion and settlement of questions relating to their conditions of service; and the position of ex-service civil servants who are not in established employment. Thirdly: The conditions of retirement from the Civil Service, including the retirement of women civil servants on their marriage. A GIGANTIC TASK. LONDON, Oct. 1. . The Civil Service Royal Commission is a triantic undertaking, states one of the Commissioners. Its findings may affect hundreds of thousands. The terms of reference have been framed to bring every matter of importance affecting the Civil Service within the limits of the. inquiry. Particularly will it bring forward the position of seventy-five thousand women civil servants, who have long been pressing for equal nay for equal work. Such a change will cost tiie country three million sterling annually. Some of the men’s organisations are afraid that the principle of equal pay will result in a general levelling down of the salaries. The “Alorning Post” describes the Commission as “an attempt to placate the trade union element of the Socialist Party.” It says that ever since the general strike, the Civil Service Unions have agitated against the law preventing the Civil Service Unions from partaking in political movements.