CIVIL SERVANTS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8457, 17 June 1913, Page 4

CIVIL SERVANTS

PLEA FOR CIVIC RIGHTS PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL POLITICS. MINISTER SYMPATHETIC. A plea on behalf of the civic rights of public servants was made by a deputation which interviewed the Hon. W. F. Massey (Prime Minister) yesterday afternoon. The interview was the outcome of a meeting held recently at Petono and the delegation represented both the citizens at that meeting and the Petone Borough Council Mr T. M. AVilford M.P., in introducing the subject, said that the question related to the granting of civil—or to be more accurate—civic rights to public servants. The subject was not new, having been thrashed out in Parliament in McCulloch’s case some time ago. The Petone Council had passed a resolution on the subject as a remit for the next Municipal Conference, as follows

That the attention of the Government be drawn to the injustice now placed upon boroughs like Petone, through the regulations which forbid railway employees and civil servants from taking any active part in local body matters, and request the Government to remove these restrictions, oo that these men may take a seat on borough councils, etc. SKILLED BRAINS.

“You let civil servants sit on school committees,” said Mr Wilford. “I can point to one member of my constituency—an engine-driver—who, as chairman of a school committee, has run it for six years.” There were in Petone and Hutt a number of civil servants; hundreds of men working in Government offices in Wellington lived in that district, and it was to the advantage of the district that the skilled brains they represented should be at the service ol the people. “We have the undemocratic position—leaving aside the aspect of general politics—that in regard to civic rights these men are ratepayers - who have no voice in th© management of their own concerns, or in the expenditure of their own money. “Their properties were liable tor rates, and since they were interested in th© distribution of money which they contributed. they had reason for taking part in municipal elections and being councillors and Mayors. There were many able men thus debarred, and Petono felt the loss in this respect. The only objection they heard was the_ old supposition that if the local stationmaster became a borough councillor, and a question of passing an indignation motion on the Government for running a train late came up, how could the stationmaster condemn the Government which employed him? But that was insufficient; there was really no valid objection to their request. Civil servants would consider the opportunity a great boon and there were solid able men fit to fill positions on borough councils with credit, this being felt by present councillors. They did not suggest that civil servants should participate in general politics. PETONE HANDICAPPED;

Mr T. Townsend said that the civil servants were keenly interested in this question, as well as a large number of the general public. The matter cam© up apart from the Civil Service, at a meeting when candidates for the council spoke. They got only eleven candidates for nine seats on the Petone council, and there were five hundred men in the workshops. Petone was thus handicapped. While there might be grave arguments against the giving of political rights, they did not apply as far as civil rights were concerned. They did not see why a public servant should >ot be allowed to take the chair at a borough council or education board. The Civil Service regulations and the Act prohibited them from taking part in general politics, and civil servants seemed to be afraid of taking part in local matters. But they had a right to take an inter : est in affairs of local government, and have a voice in such questions. It would not interfere with the capabilities of civil servants as - workmen, and it would give them an opportunity of giving useful public service. Nor would it interfere with their relations with, their superior officers. There were now 30,000 employees of the Public Service throughout the Dominion, on behalf of whom the deputation spoke. Mr ’J. W. Mcßwan (Mayor of Petone) said that a borough was entitled to have the best brains available and the community should not be debarred from having their service merely because the possessor happened to be a civil servant. PRIME MINISTER’S REPLY. The Prime Minister, in reply, said that this point had not yet come before Cabinet, nor had he arrived yet at a definite conclusion with regard to it. Speaking for himself, however, he saw no earthly reason why a man employed by the Railway Department or a general civil servant should not take part in local politics. That had been his opinion for a very long time, and it was his opinion now. In a case which had been referred to, an employee of the railways was at present a member of the Riccarton Borough Council, and no objection had been raised to the fact. Nor did ho (Mr Massey) see any objection, so long as the employee attended to the local government business in his own time, and his duties as a member of the local body did not clash with his duties as a member of the Public Service. He drew the line at general politics; ho thought that the fact of an employee of the State taking an active part in general politics might lead to a considerable amount of friction, not only from his own point of view, hut in that of ordinary electors as well. Civil servants generally were wise in refraining from taking any ictive part in connection therewith, unless a public servant intended to become a candidate, and resigned his position in the ordinary way. He would convey their representations to Cabinet and would express his opinion in doing so; and he had no doubt Cabinet would adopt a liberal attiude, and do its best to meet the views of the denotation.