CIVIC PATRONAGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3757, 16 March 1926, Page 33

CIVIC PATRONAGE.

LABOUR IN SYDNEY. PEOPLE BECOMING RECONCILED. (From Ou.r Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, March 3. The things that are being done at the Town Hall under the Labour regime, and in the name of efficient and well-ordered civic government, while, of course, they are hailed with joy by Labour supporters, are nowadays viewed with a certain amount of equanimity by the community generally. They have been shocked so often that they can now contemplate events with that evenness of temper which often reflects tho futility of kicking against the pricks. Take the latest resolution that in future employment in the civic service shall be subject to nomination by aldermen. As this scheme has already teen endorsed by tho Labour caucus the approval of the full council is regarded only as a matter of form. Applications for employment will be considered by the heads of departments in rotation, as they are received from the different aldermen. It is not difficultt see where this may lead to. Will the heads of departments, for example, have the moral courage, assuming that they feel a man is unsuitable for a post, to reject the nomination of an alderman, especially if the latter is a member of the majority party in the council? Now that a man’s appointment or dismissal may possibly be made “a party matter,” and head of a department may easily be placed in an embarrassing position, especially if he has the courage to speak his mind, it looks rs though it will be practically impossible to dismiss an unsuitable man from the council. The unrestrained freedom of heads of departments, as in ordinary mmercial life, to employ or dismiss men, s to ba undermined It is this sort of thing, in conjunction with the happenings in Parliament, that is making not a few people wonder whether the Labour Party is uofc adopting a suicidal policy.