MERIT AND REWARDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23431, 22 August 1939, Page 8

MERIT AND REWARDS

References to an interview the executive of the Public Service Association had some time ago with the Prime Minister, appearing in the August Public Service Journal, show that there was laid down, and accepted, the principle that nothing but the claims of the lower-paid officers would be considered by the Government at present. As a shortterm policy it is not easy to criticise. Costs, including the cost of living, are rising, and the burden so created is naturally felt most by those whose salaries are lowest. There lies the justification for considering their needs first. As a fixed and unalterable policy, over a long period, it would not, however, be good for the country or, ultimately, for the service itself. Public servants, through their organisation, have in the past protested against the salaries attached to the highest administrative posts under the Government, compared with earnings for similar responsibilities outside the service. The facts support such complaints, and lead inevitably to the question whether the attractions of such posts are sufficient to draw to them men of the calibre the work demands. The pension outlook aggravates the position. No officer who joined after 1909 may, on retiring, draw more than £3OO a year in superannuation. This is the pension of an officer with a salary of £450 a year on retirement. In a few years' time no superannuitant, will be able to draw more, although he may have contributed to the fund on the whole of a much higher salary for years, and, since last April, paid social security tax as well. The lower-paid must be looked after, but eventually, for the good of all, the goal attainable by the most able and 'ambitious officers will have to be made more attractive.