Page 6 Advertisements Column 3

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16964, 28 March 1917, Page 6

To malcfl a cheap soap dish out of an ordinary smal] tin, punch a hole in the bottom.

The general impression regarding public, servants (remarks the Public Service Journal) is that they are n highly-paid and in other respects a fortunate class of worker, and, so far as the public mind is concerned' appearances may seem to justify such an impression. It is, however, only when one digs below the surface that the true state of the case is discovered. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the large army of State employees are not paid, nor were they ever paid, wages that compare favourably with the rates ruling in private employment. There are, of course, positions in the service which carry good salaries as compared with the lesser-paid men, but such positions are not numerous though they bulk largely in the public view because of their comparative prominence. The latest classification list of the general service issued by the Public Service Commissioner contains some 5900 names. Of this number 46 per cent, receive salaries not exceeding £165 per annum, 73 per cent, do not exceed £220 per annum, 83 per cent, do not cxcecd £260 per annum, whilst the remaining 10 per cent, are more fortunate. This group includes permanent heads of departments, technical experts, and professional men in the State service. From these salaries deductions rajiging from 5 per cent, to 10 per cent, are made for superannuation, which, of course, is for the ultimate benefit of the officer, though the immediate effect is to curtail his expenditure in othec directions.