THE REMUNERATION OF GOVERNMENT EXPERTS. .

Otago Witness, Issue 2272, 16 September 1897, Page 7

THE REMUNERATION OF GOVERNMENT EXPERTS. .

Mr James Osborne, described as tha principal of a large produce firm ia Glasgow, h\s recently made remark?, which hare been pub*lUhed, disparaging, to the work of the graders Jind, experts employed by the Now Zealand Government in connection witU the dairy produce export trade. Referring to these statements the Wellington Post observes : — " If our experts and instructors are so incompetent, how comes it that no many of them (tho name) of Messrs BlEwau, Sawers, and Valentino occur to us at tbis noomnnt) are secured at higher rates of remuneration by business firms or co-operative associations. Considering the modest salaries that are paid by the Government foe" this Expert work, our experience is that the country has been, on the whole, very well aerved by these gentlemen. The wenk point is that they are not adequately, paid. It is not right, for instance, that a competent grader of dairy produce, who is, aparb from, his expert knowledge, in a position of, greafc trust that might be eatily abused with but little fear of detection, should be paid a salary that is little more than that of a modes'; clerkship. Our experience- is that; there are competent and experienced men in this service whoae work is of constautlyincr«asing value, but if they be not batter' paid in the near future their aervices will be gradually secured by the commercial interests out*ido the department. It will ba better business fur the country if they be better paid."

We (New Zealand Farmer) may say that we entirely concur in these remarks of ouc contemporary. We will not go so f»r as to say that all the experts that have been appointed by Government during the lasc few years have beeu equaily competent, but ,we may say that gome of the best have beeu and ate. the worst pnid, and that on the whole the work done by most of them has been go >d work bo far as, it went. In many cas^s the efficiency of thafcwork has been hampered" by the narrow margin of expenditure allowed to the Agricultural department by Parliament, 'preven l iojj expert officials from oairying out a course of action which recommends itself to their iutell'geoce and experiocce as desirable iv the public interest. But apirl from this difficulty the Government estimate of the worth of expert knowledge and ability — if measured by the b*g,jarly rein'insration offered for them in m"»ny cases — must ba an extremely low one. We have now in the public service a trained entomologist of- great skill and industry, who has already done the mosb valuab'e work in the North Island in the study and observation of insects injurious to farmers and horticulturists and in communicating the results of his labours" by the delivery of practical lectures thereon/ We refer to Captain Broti'n, of Auckland, who has recently m»de a in ogb Valuable discovery with regard to a parasitic enemy of the peat knowu to horticullurists as the mealy bug. Tile discovery was entirely duo to his trained 1 habits of observation as an entomologist while supervising the work of eradicating vines* isfe6ted with phylloxera. We venture, to say that by his .promptitude in detecting and conserving these parasitic flies by avoiding the destruction of the impregnated meily bugs which were on the vines to be eradicated, Captain Bcoua'a services hava been worth, in this one instance alone, perhaps thousands of pounds to vinegrowers and the horticultural industry generally. His salary, we understand, is £100 a year — about that of a second-rate commercial clerk !

Tais is. of coarse, a glaring instance of an underpaid expert who is t admittedly doing, admirable work. But the weakness for paying inadequate salaries to. specialist* .employed in the public, seryica is a marked "foatu re of our present Government. We do not believe in the multiplication of 6 ivernraent experts, but if, a specialist is not worth a fairly haudioma salary, then the appointment is no!? worth making at all. To the experts themselves the chief value of a Government position i* that they are thereby enabled' to prove their abilities inji public manner, and are thus brought und«r the notice of business men, who, knowing the true vuluo of such services, readily offer far them twice and three times the remuneration the Government consider sufficient. Thus the services of our best- public servants sire too often losb to the country. We can only pernmnenbly secure special t^lenb by paying an adequate price for ib, and that is a lesson which our Government seem* slow to learn.