POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

Otago Witness, Issue 3195, 9 June 1915, Page 65

POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT.

CONFERENCE OF OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION.

WELLINGTON, June 4

The Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association Conference, which commenced on Tuesday, dealt with the reorganising of the Post and Telegraph Officers’ Association. It was decided after a lengthy discussion that the time had arrived when the association should have an officer who could devote all his time to the work. To meet the extra expenses entailed by the change it was agreed that the annual subscription be increased, and that the association become incorporated under the Unclassified Societies Act.

It was agreed to ask the commissioner to place officers of the Post and Telegraph Department on the same footing as other public servants with regard to medical certificates after absence on sick leave; that the commissioner be asked to review' the conditions of Expeditionary Force leave with a view to granting half-pay to all officers who are accepted by the defence authorities; that the conference considers that members of the Post and Telegraph Department who volunteered for service abroad and were forced to resign because leave was refused them should be reinstated and placed on leave, so that should they desire to re-enter the service on their return to New Zealand they may be able to do so without losing their seniority or superannuation; that representation be made to the Government urging that clause 51 of “ The Public Service Act, 1912 ” (the right to the commissioner to dismiss any officer without giving any reason) be repealed in the first amending Act; that the conference deplores the fact that full reports of all interviews held by duly-appointed representatives of the association are not supplied to the department for publication in the official journal, as heretofore, and urges upon the_ commissioner the reconsideration of his decision to withhold such reports; that the conference affirms the principle that in all cases where it is necessary _ to relieve a senior officer or an officer filling a position which possibly will be raised in grade the officer next in line for promotion be the one selected temporarily to fill the position j that the sub-postmasters in ex-t-emely isolated offices be granted quarters rent free and a locality allowance at

places where no rent of official quarters is paid at present; that money order branches in first grade sub-offices be brought into line with chief offices as regards Saturday hours and attendance; that steps should be taken to have the constitution of the Appeal Board altered to allow of a stipendiary magistrate being chairman of the board, and that counsel be allowed to appear on behalf of any appellant; that in the opinion of this association the official replies to appeals heard by the Appeal Board should reach the appellant direct from the board, and that such replies should set out the grounds for the decision arrived at, and that the Appeal Board should sit with open doors.