Report and Recommendations of the Civil Service Commissioners.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1052, 25 June 1880, Page 2

Report and Recommendations of the Civil Service Commissioners.

JUSTICE. In the Department of Justice the necessity for an exhaustive and painstaking investigation was so evident that we could entertain no hope of completeing our enquiries into that question before the necessity of reporting would be forced upon us. We have been able to find that the department is unnecessarily costly, and that appointments have been made to it for consideration other than those of capacity and fitness. In some instances this appears to have been done with a desire to reward military and other meritorious services but even in such cases we believe the practice will not be found economical, and is, of course, open to objections of a more important character. In many places the District Judges' and Resident Magistrates' districts might be extended, and the number of Resident Magistrates and their clerks might be diminished ; but without more careful and extended enquiry we are not prepared to say whether the Resident Magistrates'! Courts should or should not be abolished and their places supplied in one direction by the District Courts, and in the other by the appointment of Police Magiaatrates and the assistance of Justices of the Peace. The existence of both the Resident Magistrates' and the District Courts.appears unnecessary ; but without much more investigation than we have had time to make into this subject we must decline to say upon which of these Courts the duties now divided between could be placed with the greatest economy and public convenience. Iv some parts of the colony we are quite satisfied that the number of police | is much greater than it should be, and | some highly paid officers are residing where there is not the slightest occasion for their presence and where less-highly paid men would be much more useful In this direction immediate economy could be effected, and the number of the police in some parts of the colony could certainly be reduced without danger or difficulty. In one district, historically remarkable for its temperance, its freedom from crime and the order-loving character of its population, we found that the number, and still more the expense, of the police had been largely increased during the last few yearrs without any increase of population or any other assignable reason. Employing (the police to attend to their officers' horses and carriages, and act as personal attendants upon them, is a practice that should be kept within very narrow limits if not entirely disallowed, as it offers a direct temptation to the officers to ad* vise the maintenance of a larger number of constables than is required for the public service. The number of email gaols maintained in different parts of the colony is a cause of very considerable waste of public money whilst it perpetuates many other evils in connection with prison management, discipline, classification, and employment. As an illustration of the loss to the colony, we may mention that whilst in Auckland we found 158 prisoners, maintained at a cost, for food of £10 13s, per head, and £20 for superintendence, whilst the actual cash received for each prisoner's labor being £9 7s. 6d., and the estimated value of labor given to various public Boards and institutions was £15 7s. 4d. per head. In Picton, on the other hand, we found an annual average of 5$ prisoner, costing £23 19s. per head for food, and 83 Is. 9d. per head for superintendence, whilst the cash earnings were nil, and the work performed for their locality of very little value. In still smaller establishments the cost per head for superintending a prisoner is even more illustrative of the extravagance of the present arrangement. In Arrow Town, where they seem to have a prisoner two days a month, the cost of waiting on him is at the rate of £2,837 15s. per annum ; Westport,i£64s 7s. 6d. per head ; Russell, £465 7s. 6d. ; Nasbey, £317 17s. 4d. ; Thames, £189 10s. lOd. ; Reeftou, £152 Is. Bd. ; Clyde, £116 2s. 2d. ; and Greymouth, £113 10s. Id. It is very evident that such occasional duties as are necessary in these particular instances should be performed by the police or by some temporarily appointed person, and not be made a reason for appointing permanent officers. What has been done in the Auckland Gaol shows that our able-bodied prisoners can be maintained without adding anything considerable to the burdens of the colony, and that the heavy cost now incurred for maintaining small numbers of prisoners in isolated establishments is one that can be and should be avoided. The advantage obtained by local bodies from the prison labor offers a temptation to advise the continuance of these expensive and ' useless institutions ; and, in order to avoid any local jealousies on that ground, it is desirable that prison labor should in no case be given to any local institutions except at its market value. Travelling Allowance. Officers travelling on publio duty are allowed the actual cost of conveyance by rail, steamer, or vehicle, and auch a daily allowance in addition as is supposed to cover their hotel charges for board and lodging. The hotel allowances varies according to salary ; the hotel expenses of Ministers and Judges are assumed to be 2 guineas a day ; District Judges, l£ guineas ; and all other public officers, 3s 6d, for each hundred pounda of salary, but in no case less than 7s 6d per day. While the lowest paid officers can only draw 7s 6d, those paid £1000 can draw £1 15 b a day in addition to cost of conveyance. Travelling allowance being given solely for the purpose of covering reasonable expenditure, precautions should be taken to prevent persons from regarding this allowance as a source of indirect profit. Inquiries which were commenced on this subject have shown ub that it is not only poasible, but also probable, that improper charges and entries have been made for the purpose of obtaining payments under this head. Pensions. We are of opinion that any provision for pensions or retiring allowances must necessarily interfere with that free choice of servants whioh every employer finds necessary in order to secure vigilant and attentive services, and that the uncertainty which many circum-

stances introduce as to its eventual realisation prevents it from being valid by the possible recipient at its full cost to the Government. A still greater objection exists as to any implied or traditional claim with long service, accident, or other circum- j stances, may or may not be supposed to confer on any Government employe* ; everything should be avoided that would place Civil Servants in the position of suppliants for favors, either from their superior officers or from the Legislature ; and no uncertainty should be allowed to prevent them from making such provision for their own future as their prudence would dictate in any other employment. GENERAL REFORMS IN CIVIL SERVICE TO EFFECT ECONOMY. Speaking of these departments to which we have not|particularly referred, ! and of the departments generally, the first step towards economy must be the abandonment of all ideas (and traditions ' that now exist as to the Government being required to treat its employes on any different principles from those which would regulate a well-conducted establishment of any large employer ; and chiefly that men should be sought for the work required, and not places sought for the men who have been trained to expect them. By far the greater part of the work demanded from the officers and clerks employed in the Government service is of a routine character, requiring no uncommon ability, and the Government ought to obtain men qualified for such work at the market value. The prevalent idea, if not the recognised rule, that every person who is called into the Government service has obtained a footing from which he cannot be removed, and which must necessarily lead him up to constant, regular promotion, with very little regard to his own assiduity and efficiency, and none whatever to the character of the duties upon which he is engaged or which he has qualified himself to perform, has not only removed one of the strongest incentives to effort which lead men to aspire to excellence but has indenfinitel/ and progressively increased the cost of government. Departments and heads of departments have been multiplied until the heads have grown out of all proportion to their bodies, and the cost of the Service has been made by excessively paying high salaries to officers who contribute nothing to the efficiency and useful power of the Service. A necessary, and only a necessary, number of officers promoted, to a commanding position for their superior qualities would be a most valuable element in any Service, and salaries sufficient to retain such services must be paid.