COST OF GOVERNMENT

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 221, 14 August 1930, Page 9

COST OF GOVERNMENT

EXPANSION IN FIVE YEARS. INCREASE OF 1816 EMPLOYEES. The growth of the public service dur r ing the last five years is revealed in the estimates of expenditure for the present year presented with the Budget, as compared with the estimates tor the financial year of 1925-26. An increase of 1816 in the number of officers employed is shown by a comparison of the figures for the two periods under review (says an exchange). In 1925-26 the total number employed in 33 departments charged on the Consolidated Fund was 9690, and for the year 1930-31 tbe total is 11,507, employed in 35 departments. The two new departments are those of Scientific and Industrial Research and of Transport. These comparisons do not in either year include the Post Office, the Railways Department, the Public Works Department and other departments whose transactions are independent of the Budget. Nor does it include officers whose salaries are paid under statutory authority, such as judges and members of Parliament. For the present year the amount proposed to be paid in salaries is £2,850,045, as compared with £2,463,368 for tho year 1925-26, an increase of £386,677. The following table affords a comparison of the numbers of officers employed, in the two periods under review, in tho departments covered by the ordinary Budget:

There have been increases in practically every case. In only four departments, Stamp Duties, Mines, Printing and Marine, are decreases evident, the largest being in the Stamp Duties Department, where the number of employees was reduced in the five years from 223 to 184. The reductions in the Mines and the Marine Departments are attributable for the most, part to the transference of employees in special branches, such as geological survey and meteorological observation, to the new department of Scientific and Industrial Research. In the Printing Department the reductions have been effected in the general staff. , , , The following table shows the salaries voted in the various departments in 1925-26, as compared with the sums allocated for the purpose in the estimates for the present year:

The increase in salaries, however, does not fully correspond with the increase in staffs. The average for 9690 officers in 1925-26 was £254, as compared with the average of £248 for 11,507 officers for the current year, a decrease of £6. To raise the average salary to the previous level an additional sum of nearly £70,000 would be required.

Department No. of Employees 1925-26 1930-31 56 79 Prime Minister ... 3 Treasury 96 108 National Provident 53 66 • Land and Income Tax ... 171 178 Stamp Duties 310 273 33 41 Native 77 120 External Affairs 6 10 Cook Islands 67 79 Industries, Commerce and Tourist 171 215** Justice 279 317 Prisons 241 297 Crown Law 9 10 Police 1110 1205 Pensions 158 .171 41 27 841 921 Audit 132 165 Public Service Commissioner 16 19 Printing 373 323 Mental Hospitals 1056 1324 Health 476 592 629 1143 Defence 578 630 Customs ....; 299 321 Marine 254 241 •Labour 113 136 Lands and Survey 689 723 Valuation 118 131 Electoral 7 13 Agriculture 583 747 Education 648 801 77 ‘ 11 Totals . 9690 11,507

Salaries of employees. 1925-26 1930-31 Department £ 33,236 • £ 34,959 2,675 23,798 • 30,181 National Provident Inland revenue Public buildings, etc. .. Native External Affairs Cook Islands Industries, Commerce and Tourist Justice Prisons Crown Law 11.911 95,794 9,845 15,669 2,045 18,008 39,471 74.911 65,329 4,925 325,116 11,448 112,209 9,797 22,359 5,340 16,290 49,076 82,061 78,482 5,660 363,670 35,710 39,598 Mines . Internal Affairs Audit Public Service Commiseioner Printing Mental Hospitals 14,761 150,550 23,848 5,085 119,327 201,372 127,948 190,800 182,502 90,004 9,399 171,793 28,200 4,982 130,155 247,357 149,737 Naval Defence Defence 192,700 215,012 91,537 66,864 69,505 Labour Lands and Survey 31,463 112,728 36,381 3,989 39,297 122,397 33,245 4,602 183,135 228,475 166,843 204,873 Research Transport 33,613 4,361 Totals £2,463,368 £2,850,045