THE HONOR OF THE CIVIL SERVICE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 214, 7 September 1905, Page 2

THE HONOR OF THE CIVIL SERVICE.

The voucher charges have involved the honor of the Civil Service in an important degree, and the controversy as to whether the Christchurch officials acted rightly or wrongly is likely to result in a well-defined code of ethics. The Lyttelton Times has been expressing its views in an article which has attracted considerable attention, and the following quotation from our contemporary's columns may be appropriately made : —"lt is not difficult to imagine the state of affairs that would ariso if every officer in the public service were given to believe that it was his first duty to report to his representative in Parliament any matter which ' seemed ' to concern the honour of his country. We should have junior messenger boys prying into the chief clerk's private drawers, and the office charwoman going over the contents of the waste-paper basket in the hope of finding the fragments of some incriminating document. Any man might break his oath of secrecy and betray the most sacred trust of his office, and then plead that it ' seemed ' to him that lie was protecting the honor of his country. We have purposely refrained from discussing the action of the Civil Servants involved in the present scandal, because we have been hoping that Mr Fisher would disclose the source of his first information and thus relieve them of the suspicion of having carried tales to the member for Wellington ; but we are not prepared to say that every public officer who chooses to show that he has ' the courage of his convictions' by disregarding all the obligations of his

position, should be encouraged to re-

peat the adventure. If the officers* for--•^honr'Mr'Tiiylor'is'so much concerned had nothing to do with the matter until after Mr Fisher had made his statement in the House they need not, we think, apprehend any very serious results from their indiscretion. If, however, it should be proved that any one of them had been guilty of carrying information to a political partisan, of whatever color, he could not reasonably expect to escape the penalty that is very properly provided for such a breach of confidence." This is a commoii-sense ; view that will find general approval.