SERVICE TO THE STATE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 119, 19 April 1934, Page 6

SERVICE TO THE STATE

With so many interests claiming State help for purposes that should be achieved by individual independent effort, and the growing but mistaken belief that many things in life can be obtained free because the State could provide them, it is refreshing- to find a suggestion in the opposite direction. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce has advanced the opinion that members of boards administering- public services should not be paid. A substantial economy, it is said, could be obtained by this means and it is purely on such a ground that the opinion has been expressed. Whether or not the major boards would function as weil as or better than they do now is a matter over which a lengthy controversy could doubtless be raised, but the mention of the Auckland Chamber’s view reminds us that there is a considerable degree of public service performed at present by members of local bodies for which no remuneration is granted. It can be said that men, and women too, of ability could be found with the time available and the energy to devote themselves to functions now carried out by official Statepaid bodies, but the question would perhaps be raised as to whether that system would provide the best service. The taxpayer with multitudes of burdens might prefer to pay, and pay handsomely, for highly specialised service ensuring the most efficient administration rather than risk heavy losses sometimes caused by State boards, or entrust tasks calling for special knowledge to persons adopting the membership of boards just as a hobby, although their intentions may be of the very best. Perhaps the Auckland Chamber of Commerce would have been on better ground had it just as sincerely drawn attention to the need for a greater measure of self-help all round in the_ Dominion. As has been mentioned often before, a generation is growing up with the example before it of varying interests looking to the State to provide many things, from the cradle till the grave is reached. The spirit of independence—the spirit to tackle one’s problems with every private resource —is a valuable tiling, but there may be danger of its being undervalued if the movement which leads to leaning on some one else is encouraged.