Report and Recommendations of the Civil Service Commissioners.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1050, 23 June 1880, Page 2

Report and Recommendations of the Civil Service Commissioners.

Public Works Depaetmbnt. We have been able to find very little to commend in the results of its management, and have come to a very painful conviction that New Zealand has not received good value for the large sums that have been expended. Here, as in most other departments of the New Zealand Government, highly paid men are too often employed at work requiring no uncommon ability, and engineers are found acting as accountants, as inspectors, or as clerks of works. Fifty-seven engineers at high salaries, and often with expensive officers, form a staff out of all proportion of the work to be done ; and it is evident that these engineers, if fully employed at all, must be engaged at work not requiring a professional head. In order to find any appearance of employment for this host of engineers, the most absurd regulations have to be adopted. We have it in evidence that a common siding cannot be put down on a working railway without the presence of two engineers. One must be called in from the construction department to decide how such an important new work can be executed, and a second must be brought from the maintenance staff to ascertain how it can be connected with the existing line. A much smaller number of engineers who were men of ability and experience could evidently supply all the engineering and skill our public works are likely to require ; and a multitude of officers whose actual personal qualifications do not entitle them to the homage exacted by the profession would be far better out of the way, as they now interfere with the exercise of the ordinary good sense which our cleverest practical merchanica so often possess. By selecting only the best engineers, retaining a far smaller number and requiring them to give their attention to any Government work in their locality, either of construction or maintenance, the responsibility of each work would be more easily fixed and traced than it can be now, many of the present costly mistakes could not occur, and a considerable saving in salaries alone would be capable of further reduction as the expenditure of borrowed money draws to a close. The strict formal separation of the two engineering departments is (as inconvenient as it is costly. The isolation is so complete that eaoh regards the other as an alien rather than an ally, and there is no evidence, and apparently no possibility, of friendly co-operation for the general good. Engines and rolling-stock have been largely imported by this department for use on the working railways without previous consultation and agreement as to the most suitable descriptions ; the result is, that they are condemned by railway officials, and the answer to all questions on this subjeot is, that " the responsibility rests with the other department. " Large quantities of expensive articles are now thrown aside by

the railway management as useless, and further expense incurred in importing or constructing what they believe to be better adapted for their special purpose. At the same time the palpable engineering mistakes that are made, the evident inattention to common wellknswn requirements, and the want of adaption of stereotyped plans to varying circumstances, have given us a strong impression that this costly staff is made to effect very little profitable result. Too often we have noticed in the engineers employed, a feeling of indifference as to the result of their work, and almost a sullen obediencce to orders believed to be absurd. A railway bine that has been passed by the Public Works' engineer must be accepted by the officers taking charge of it as fit for traffic, although they may be able to demonstrate that there is no ballast under the sleepers, no way provided for storm-water, or that the curves or gradients are of a character that must be immediately altered. With such an immense force of engineering skill in the service of the colony, it might be supposed that at least an intelligent selection would be made of our native timber for bridges, sleepers and other purposes' Upon this we, find that the most contradictory opinions are held, leading to the use in one district of a timber condemned for the same purpose in another, and unfortunately these opinions seem to vary in the direction least conducive to economy. Even in the few instances in which locally grown-timber ib used, its price is often made much higher than it need be by insisting on its delivery in the winter, when it is almost impossible to get it out of the bush. Kauri, which is plentiful in Auckland has been found to be quite useless for piles in salt water, and totara, which is comparatively scarce, is now used ; while in Napier, where no kauri grows and totara is cheap and plentiful, a large bridge across the harbor, crating more than £12,000 is being built "with piles of imported kauri, though it is well known that the latter timber is soon destroyed by the teredo in salt water. On the Auckland lines puriri, which is admitted to be the best in New ! Zealand for sleepers, and is readily obtainable, is neglected, while kauri, which cannot be compared with it for durability is used. In these, perhaps, more than in any other branches of the Government service, the mischief of dividing departments and multiplying heads is apparent as, besides the waste of enery and money that iB caused by it, the bad effect of clashing opinions and instructions may everywhere be seen. It is clearly one of those cases in which " one bad general would be better than two good ones," and in which it would be far easier for one head to control the whole than for each separate head to be called on at every important atep to meet the opposing opinions of what is really a rival department.

A familiar instance of color blindness s that of a man taking a brown silk imbrella, and leaving a green gingham v its place.