THE CIVIL SERVANT

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 10062, 29 August 1918, Page 6

THE CIVIL SERVANT

AS OTHERS SEE HIM

IMPRESSIONIST SKETCH OF INTERESTING CHARACTER.

The culminating point was readied when tho new hours affecting civil servants were brought into operation. It only needed this alteration, this finishing toucn, to enhance ono of nature’s most interesting products, to place him far beyond the level of ordinary man. If ho were proud by virtue of his position and its relation to tho country which he so unselfishly serves whan ho ww“etl between 1> a.m. and 5 p.m.—now that these hours for nim aro no more, hie pride has increased in volume like the approaching storm; it throws in the shade all other characteristics; it hoods him with a new

(k.pg -v-JiOi Mie del gui «•» i ! vmg, oat the delight of being as others are not. No man ever thanked his God that he was not as other men more devoutedly than tho civil servant.

If his character has attributes other Hi an conceit and pride rt*s difficult .at first to see them. One is here reminded of tho old story of tho Egyptian goddess Isis. Before her statue hangs a veil, and whoever attempts to pull it down finds a second veil, and on removing that finds a third, a fourth, and so on. Try as you may, it is not until you pull aside the many screens of pride that .v,oii realise wliav the civil servant is. Even then ono must rely on a process of deduction to find out mqny traits, but here great care should be taken. Because civil servants generally stop work at 4.23 p.m. onb must not conclude thdt they are a lazy doss of people. Although this idea seems to have gained considerable vogue during the war. its application to civil scrvanits as a whole would not bo fair; it would bo a total injustice to the Service, tho work of which stands as a monument more durable than brass. If most civil servants cease work five minutes before the prescribed time, it is because they have realised the force of the teaching of many political economists who advocate that it would bp 'a very beneficial alteration to curtail the working day of the employee. if you go into a Government office and see gentlemen doing nothing in particular, and the lapels of the coat thoy are wearing loaded with pins, you may rest assured that these aro civil servants. Tho coat thev wear while doing their duties is worn threadbare at tho elbows, has only oho button, and is called an “office coat.” If, however, the sole remaining button should be mussing, the coat is kept closed by a piece of red tape from 12 to -0 inches in length Moreover, it is a matter ot great importance that all coats he threadbare at the elbow, even if it is necessary to have recourse to a _ penknife, for is not this a proof ol- the constant friction between the elbow and the varnished table-on which the gentleman in question does his writ, iivr? The “office coat” must be Musty, for if it were not it would indicate that the wearer was a new hand, which is ; as had as being'a “fresher at a. university. ■ ■ HISTORICAE FOUNDATIONS.

And, after all, what is a cml servant P Ho is .as old as civilisation itself. Ho did liis duties when men slaved to raise a pyramid to perpetuate the glory of one of Kgypt s Pharaohs. Ho is a necessity to a malady that will never be rooted from the community. Civil servants would not exist if there were no Governments, and, as Swinburne pointed out in his poem “Hortha,” that all Governments , are “a crown of night,” thereby meaning that in a perfect society no Oot erament would be necessary. Although it is not right to compare the great with the small, the civil servant of to-day is the same ae the civil servant of yesterday, and will be the same as the civil servant of to-mor-row. His form only changes. The substance, which is the spirit, cannot, and will not, change. After this system has returned to its parent sun, and this parent sun again dissolves into other suns and planets, and men again apjiear on an earth, tho civil servant will again make his appearance if men are foolish enough to organise a Government. Ho will be I tho same in spirit, although he maybe different in form; ho will bo conceited, proud, haughty, high-flown, puffed np, supercilious, lordly, and arrogant. The civil servant will buttonhole you in tho street, like Socrates, of old, to ask you your opinion of the war. If you reply that, as far ns you can judgo, operations are being carried out satisfactorily, you are at once asked to define what you moan by “satisfactorily.” He was only seeking, however, for an opportunity to flood you with his immense knowledge on bellicose matters, and you will then learn how many guns and troops tho enemy has lost within tho last month —which information, bo it said, ho had just gleaned from the morning paper. It is the civil servant who tells you that tho day is wet. You may bo soaking to the skin, but you would never have known that it was wet without that trite remark. Whou the civil servant is advanced in years, and has seven children or more, ho is generally called “Colonel,' providing his pate is scanty of hairs; He often tells vou what an admirable dancer ho was m his young days, and hints at a dreadful mystery that changed tho whole course of his life. What tho mystery is lie will pot say, but casual references to it point to the fact that, before joining tho Service, ho was basking himself in the pica euro that you tk alone knows how to onj'oy. ’ Sontewhere at this period came tho disaster, and it : was only his indomitable spirit and unflagging courage that curried him through. Hoes ho welcome the change in hours? Of course not. It is only tho younger , men who look witha kindly eye on tho alteration. But ho will not murmur. At lus age one grows accustomed to the setbacks of life. Provided there is good and .cheap ale sold in the “Red. Lion,” tho world itself could bo at variance with him without ruffling his temper, or disturbing the even tenor of his way. Thus “hands that tho rod of Jlhnpire might have held, or waked to ecstasy tho living lyre,” are wasted in making white black, and compiling blue books no one ever reads, and no one could understand. It is possible that the day will some when all men will bo civil servants, and all civil servants members of the nobility—but this is, perhaps, to look too far forward. Still, one never knows. Anything might happen in this mad world*