Civil Service Economy.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 786, 25 March 1887, Page 29

Civil Service Economy.

Several journals have recently made a tremendous fuss .about a certain “ memorandum,” as tiuy call it, which was supposed to have been “ issued ” by the Government to the Oivil Service, its subject being the arrangements proposed for future promotions and scales of salaries. On inquiry we find that, the facts are substantially a 3 follow :—The document in

question ia not an official “ memorandum’ at all, but simply a Cabinet minute intended only for Ministerial consideration as part of a somewhat elaborate-* schema of Civil Service reform now in process of development by the Government. Taken by itself, it would convey little definite meaning to the uninitiated, because much of it is unintelligible, unless rsad with the other minutes to which it refers. It appears to have been made public through an oversight on the part of the printing office, of which advantage was somewhat unscrupulously taken, copies having been sent by mistake to certain officers instead of being forwarded only to Ministers. The persistent falling off in revenue, and the load demand for retrenchment of expenditure, have caused Ministers to consider very asriously whether economies could not be eff ettid to au extent materially exceeding the limits to which they deemed last year it was practicable to go. An extensive scheme is accordingly being devised, and one of its phases is to provide for a reduction <>f salaries in some of the higher grades of the service. This of course will not takc effect during tenure of office of any pta-sant officer, but will apply to future vacancies. The principle upon which V- new regulation will be based is th.-.i it a vacancy occurs in a high official position, owing to death or retiroiiieut of the person holding it, hi. 3 successor, if promoted from a lower position, will not immediately attain the full salary enjoyed by the previous holder of the office, but will begin at first on a lower stipend, which may be subsequently increased in case of desert. For instance, should the Secretary of C/Ufltoms or the Secretary of the Tre>aury retire, his successor would not receive the LIOOO or L9OO a year to which Mr Seed and Mr Gavin have worked up by many years of hard and valuable labour, but would begin perhaps at L6OO or thereabout. The same rule would apply in the Case of chief clerks and other officers of like rank. If the retiring officer hid received L4OO his successor would begin perhaps at L3OO, and so on proportionately in the lower branches of the service. In this way it is hoped that a large saving will ultimately bo effected in the cost of the service without any appreciable impairmentof iis efficiency. It is not probable that the scheme will be very popular in the Civil Service, but the Government consider that they have to face a serious condition of afftirs, and that retrenchment can only be carried out by a systematic pruning of expenditure wherever the slightest opportunity offers itself. We understand Mr Reynolds ha 3 been very resolute in pressing the question of economy, which was the raison d’etre of his taking office, and that his colleagues have shown every disposition to meet his views generally. Th» Premier also is said to have mad® strenuous efforts to bring about such a systematic course of retrenchment as should enable him to fulfil the pledge he gave on the subject. The greatest saving, however, for the current year has been made in the Working Railways Department, where the relative decrease as compared with the work done is very large.