A PIONEER IX THE POST OFFICE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13860, 25 March 1907, Page 4

A PIONEER IX THE POST OFFICE.

? More fitting epitaph for the Into Mr - William Gray, Secretary to Hip Post f Office, could scarcely be found than in f. the words which Shakespeare puts into e the mouth of Othnllo: "I have done - the Slate some service, and they know t it." It is the lot of some men to do i their work- in the continual glare of i publicity, while others find their' joy 1 in labours which conceal them almost :> entirely from public view. Of the 1 latter was llr Gray. Perhaps one chief . factor which makes for efficiency in the s Civil Service in New Zealand is that,

while in obedience to the popular mandate ami the exigencies of the times tho political bends of departments are always changing, yofc the permanent staff is unaffected by the deposition of one Government ami tho installation of another. While the members of the Cabinet got the lion's share of the praise or blame nipted out to thorn for the efficiency or otherwise of tho branch of the public service over which they are called temporarily to preside, much of the actual toil and all the detail work are carried out by the permanent staff. Tims it is that Mr dray, who was ono of the* oldest Civil Servants in tho colony, if nob actually tho oldest, has served under eighteen Postmastersgeneral, commencing with Sir Julius Vogel and continuing right down to the time of Sir Joseph AVard and his locum tenons, Dr Ffntllay. .Mr Gray joined tho Postal Department in Dunoilin in 18(54, just after the discovery of "old in tho province had given an impetus to business, which especially affected the Post Office; and in the course of ten years ho had climbed to the top of the tree anil became Secretary of the Department—a, most honourable record. With credit to himself and renown to the service, lie held this responsible position for a quarter of a. century, and lie skilfully guided the developments in the transactions of the Postal Department as they kept pace with the onward progress of the colony. What tliati development meant in increased oversight and weight of responsibility the statistics of the past twenty-five years abundantly show. When Mr Gray took charge the letters received and posted numbered nine millions per year. Now they total seventy millions. In the same period the staff increased from 735 to 3209,.and the revenue from £00,000 per annum to' £415,000. These figures are more eloquent than words as a tribute to Mr Gray's services to the State. He was a highly conscientious.worker, with just that tinge of conservatism inseparable from a man who has grown up with a business and seen it emerge from the day of small things into the wholesale era. His conduct of affairs was such as to win for him tho respect of all those who came in contact with him in liis official position, even when they might be inclined to differ from him in matters of opinion. But his innate conversatism and desire for economical working were not allowed to interfere with the continual modernising of the Post Office machinery,' and his public record is most honourable and creditable. Except to a little inner circle of acquaintances, lie was nothing more than a. name, and yet all over the colony sincere regret will be felt for the passing of a man who represented the best traditions of the Civil Service. So long as men of the stamp of ithe late Mr Gray ocetipy foremost positions in tho public service the scandals which unfortunately- disgrace the Civil Service in some other parts of the world will he happily impossible. The career of tho man who hag just passed from amongst us fitly illustrates the sentiment embodied by Emerson when h«

And ye shnll succour men; 'Tis nobleness to serve! Help them who cannot help again, Beware from right to sweivo.