Manawatu Evening Standard. CIRCULATION 4000 DAILY. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1913. THE CIVIL SERVICE AS SEEN BY THE COMMISSIONERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9588, 4 September 1913, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. CIRCULATION 4000 DAILY. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1913. THE CIVIL SERVICE AS SEEN BY THE COMMISSIONERS.

Tub report presented by the Public Service Commissioner to Parliament on •Fuesday is of special value from the >att that it conveys the impressions and opinions of a public officer who has grown old in the service of the State, and who now views the Public Service as a wholo, from a purely independent and non-party standpoint. His conclusions will be accepted by the thinking public as more than justifying the action oi the Reform Government in placing the servants of the State beyond the power of political patronage and control. Since the publication of the classification scheme in tho Government Gazette, a good deal of dissatisfaction has, we are told, been apparent in the several departments, at the methods adopted in grading and classifying the members of the service, and an attempt is being made to tnako political capital out of the discontent which is said to exist. The publication of the Commissioner's report offers a complete explanation of that discontent, and at the same time justifies tho action which the Commissioners liavo taken. The Chief Commissioner states that "in the past irregularities have occurred in connection with the appointment of officers, but it is hoped that, under tho new conditions, it will not l>e long before anomalies right themselves." How many of theso officers wero incompetent to fill the positions to which they were appointed, or how many of such positions wero actually created for those filling them, is not stated, but the staffing of the several departments appears to have been cartied out on an exceptionally lil>cral' scale; for, while "the average hours worked in the clerical division, after deducting holidays, do not exceed 34 per ■ week," in tho case oi" a Department re-j quisitioniug for additional staff, involv-I ing an expenditure oi £2OOO per an-J num. the requisition including the "ap--pointment of four officers at salaries ap-i proximating £3OO per annum," the: Commissioners were able to transfer j "surplus officers from other depart-j ments,'' and to reduce ihe requisition to an annual amount of i'lHli), or a dif- j ferenco of £'lloo on the original requisition, besides saving the State the salaries of £.500 which the transferred I officers would have received had they

remained in the departments whore they were regarded by the Commissi oners ats ''surplus officers." In addiiioa

to effecting economics in the Public Service approximating £47,000 per annum during their seven months of office.. the Commissioners have gained a very pood idea of the weakness of the old system. They found the service generally "not so efficient as it should have been," but the report says there has already^been "a marked improvement," and "according to information received from heads of departments, there is now an enthusiasm on the part of mem Iters of the Service and a desire to improve working methods which was not before known." A very serious weakness was apparent iu the almost complete absence of co-operation between departments, and notably between departments and the Treasury, with the result that "a mass of work has been unnecessarily duplicated." Then again, "the main departments, with few exceptions, do not appear to have exercised even a casual control over their so-called subordinate departments," and, as a result of excessive subdivision, "much unnecessary expanse and waste of force appears to have resulted." The "innate conservatism" of the departments, the Commissioner again states, has often been carried to such an extreme as to distraite excellent schemes of improvement, which, if carried out years ago, would have saved the country large sums of money, but "the tendency is not only to follow obsolete methods, but to regard them as the only perfect ones." A case is cited in which "one of the ablest officers of the Service was not only discouraged, but in a way threatened with penalties if he persisted in pressing for the adoption of new methods." A recurrence of this sort of] thing is fortunately impossible under! the now conditions, and it is intended in future reports to give credit to oflcere whoso suggestions arc adopted. The report is much too lengthy a document to be dealt with as its importance merits within the brief limits of a newspaper article, but it affords a complete vindication of the Public Service Act. which the Chief Commissioner rightly says secures the benefits of cooperation between the several departments, economical yet more efficient administration, and a higher standard of efficiency, besides enabling rapid discovery to be made of points of inefficiency, or of wasteful methods of working. It also gives an equal opportunity to all to enter the Public Service, and to secure promotion by merit and ability, while it further creates a healthy spirit of rivalry between officers throughout the Service. With so much in its favour, wc are decidedly of the Prime Minister's opinion that there is no chance of the Opposition removing the Act from the Statute Book. Tho country will certainly support Mr Massey in his determination that there shall bo "no going back to the political influence and political graft that obtained up to July of last year."