ESTABLISHED 1860. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1913. PUBLIC SERVANTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 144, 20 June 1913, Page 4

ESTABLISHED 1860. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1913. PUBLIC SERVANTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS.

, —-— '-*+ We are glad to see that the Prime Minister shares the opinion, expressed recently in these columns, that members of the Public Service should no longer be debarred" from contesting vacancies and holding seats on munii cipal and other local bodies. At present this privilege is denied them by a clause in the Civil Service Regulations. Mr' Massey says he can see no harm, tin public servants holding 1 such positions j but, .as he told a deputation which waited Upon him at Wellington the other day, the question will have to be decided by Cabinet. The fact, however, that the Prime Minister has signified his personal sympathy with the uaim of the members of the Public Service to full civic rights encourages us to believe that during the coming session the regulation which debars them from so acting will be struck out, or at least materially, amended. Mr Massey has, very properly we think, declared that his acceptance of the general principle must not be taken to imply any acquiescence in Civil Servants being members $f political organisations and taking any active part in politics generally. This would never do, for reasons which were set forth hi our former article—indeed, we look to the Public Service Commissioners to prevent any recurrence of what, especially under the Seddon Administration, was a far too common occurrence, namely, the presence of Civil Servants on the committees of Parliamentary candidates, and their quite open, par- | ticipation in canvassing and election i campaigning generally. There was a j strong suspicion in the public mind I that such wrong-headed and altogether undesirable political partisanship was followed, in certain instances, by Ministerial gratitude and favoritism which found exemplification in the unfair promotion of certain public j servants who had proved themselves to be. of the "right color." We are very much afraid that in not a few cases this suspicion was found to be warranted by facts. It is in every

way most undesirable that any mem- ' ber of the Public Service, however elevated or humble be his official position, should actively interest himself in the success of a Parliamentary candidate, arid much as we still dislike the idea of Parliament's divesting itself of its functions and responsibilities and handing over the control of ! the Public Service to Mr Robertson j and his colleagues, we are fully prepared to admit that should the change whioh has been brought about really and not merely nominally abolish ail j possibility of Ministerial patronage, a very admirable reform will have J been achieved. j

With regard, however, to Civil Ser- ' rants taking part in> municipal and j ather forms of local politics, that is ' :juite another matter. In many J towns and townships there are mem- i bers of the Civil Service who have been residents for many years, men of mdoubted intelligence, capacity, and . nen, too, who, by reason of their ' official position, are not so subject to ihe _ "wire-pulling" of interested >arties with which the average busiless man who is a member of a local >ody has to contend. That our local )odies should be debarred from profit- ' '. ng by the ability and experience of j . •esidents who are members of the Civil ' ( Jerrice has long seemed to us an ; nomaly which called for removal. At, J ►resent the Government makes, we , leliere, no objection to a Civil Ser- • < ant becoming a member of a School '-i Jommittee, and we see no reason why '• j similar permission should not be ( ranted in the case of other local ■ i odios. So long as it can be shown j hat such membership docs not in- ' olve a neglect of official duties, and • ' bat the interests of the department i c f which he is a servant are not like- * tto be in any way injuriously affect- \ n by the fact that a Civil Servant \ I taking part in local politics,. it is d imcult to see why there should be ny objection to his doing so. There c re over 30,000 public servants Jn the *

Dominion, and they hare a fair claim that in the matter of civio rights they shall be no longer subject to the disability of exclusion from participation in the work of civic progress in the towns in which they reside. We trust that the Prime Minister will have no difficulty in convincing a 'majority of his Ministerial colleagues that his own view of the position is only reasonable and proper, and that the coming session may see this long-standing injustice effectually remedied.