Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1945 POLITICAL PATRONAGE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 31 August 1945, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1945 POLITICAL PATRONAGE

POLITICAL patronage is as old as politics itself and has been practised in greater or lesser degree by nearly all governments. It is natural that those of like political faith will be preferred in offices in the power of a government to bestow if the occupant is the best man or woman on other grounds, but sometimes it happens that the political qualification is thq principal one considered. The Seddon and Ward Administrations unblushingly found jobs for their proven supporters and it was to remove some of the political taint from the Public Service that led the Massey Government to place it under Commissioner control in 1912. That has worked reasonably well though it might have given too much emphasis to the “climb-the-ladder” aspect which can over-rate length of service to the detriment of ability. Also it might have led to the mistaken belief that the Public Service should be virtually a closed corporation which should rarely look for talent outside its ranks to fill senior posts.

During the ten years the Labour Government has been in office the Public Service has grown tremendously. In that expanding organisation have been positions that the the Public Service could not have filled with its own employees because there were not sufficient recruits; others have been used as “party plums” to reward faithful followers. This has been done on a large scale and sometimes at high levels of appointment, as the debate in the House showed, Commissioner control at that stage often being little more than a formality. As a matter of practice all Public Service vacancies are advertised within the Service before being notified outside, but a Minister’s recommendation can go a long way with the person who officially makes the appointment. Labour has used political patronage extensively and sometimes brazenly, going to the lengths of altering the law so that it will fit the circumstances of a particular appointment.

No defeated Labour member of Parliament has had to want for a good job and most of the public must be able to recall instances within their own knowledge of Labour adherents being placed in Public Service positions for which they have generally had some other qualification. Key posts in the Education Service have fairly regularly been filled by University graduates and others whose political creeds are well-known, and 111 is has undoubtedly had its influence on the outlook of young people who have come under the sway of these mentors.

Perhaps the present Government has had more opportunity than most in New Zealand for practising the principle of spoils to the victors. It has been a long time on the Treasury benches; circumstances have made possible an unparalleled enlargement of the Public Service; the Government believes in State control and State employment; and the psychology of unionism, which is part of Labour’s faith, requires that those of a certain political colour shall stand together and receive active occupational assistance from those whom they regard as essentially “their Government.” What the people generally, and Public Servants in particular, should be primarily concerned with is the effect of political favouritism on the efficiency of the country’s administration and on the careers of the orthodox Public Servant who is supposed to have no politics in his work. The dangers of political bias in the machinery of Government must be apparent to most thinking people.