APPOINTMENTS TO PUBLIC SERVICE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 31 August 1945, Page 6

APPOINTMENTS TO PUBLIC SERVICE

MR COMBS REPLIES TO MR HOLYOAKE (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) Wellington, Aug. 30. If the presidents of the Public Service Association, the P. and T. Association or the A.S.R.S.. and other railway organisations could have been present to speak they would have denounced the member for Pahiatua for giving false information to the House, said Mr H. E. Combs (Government, Wellington Suburbs) in the House of Representatives last night when replying to allegations of political appointments to the Public Service made by Mr K. J. Holyoake. Mr Combs quoted the names of high officials in the Public Service who had risen through the service to their present positions, including the Minister to Washington (Mr C. A. Berendsen), the Administrator of Samoa (Mr A. C. Turnbull), the general manager of Railways (Mr J. Sawers), the Direc-tor-General of the Post and Telegraph Department (Mr H. M. Patrick), the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr B. C. Ashwin), the Controller of Customs (Mr E. D. Good), and the Commissioner of Taxes (Mr F. W. Oborn). Outsiders had not been brought in to take charge of departments that were not new. But occasionally a department was opened which was extraordinary to the Public Service and that required extraordinary treatment as far as- personnel was concerned. That happened with the Transport Department which developed rapidly, and also when the Government decided to bring the waterfront under the Waterfront Control Commission. Public servants who had worked their way up in other departments could not be expected to go down to the wharves and know all about waterfront business. Men with ability to direct waterfront operations had to be secured. The Commission had done wonderfully good work. Those jobs were exceptional to the ordinary run of public service life. For Mr Holyoake to suggest that wartime jobs were filled by men outside the Public Service because of Tammany Hall was stretching things far too much. He had also suggested that the Public Service be brought back Public Service Commissioner control. It had never been taken away from commissioner control and he had been given two assistants so that he could give much more time to the job. The Public Service Commissioner’s control was stronger now than before, added Mr .Combs. Under the Labour Government the Public Service had received very substantial increases in pay and so far as the cost of living was concerned the Public Service had benefitted by the stabilisation of the cost of living in all the main items exlcept clothing. But the extra pay more than compensated for the additional amount that had to be spent on clothes. Mr Combs denied unrest among publie servants. As far as superannuation was concerned the higher paid public servants did not pay their superannuation but paid towards it. The taxpayers made good the difference The lower paid public servants did nay pre tty well 20s in the £ of their superannuation but they rejoiced in the social security benefits.