THE PUBLIC SERVICE

Southland Times, Issue 19394, 7 November 1924, Page 5

THE PUBLIC SERVICE

COMMISSIONER’S REPORT PRINCIPLE OF CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMATIC GRADING.! (Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLNGTON, November 6. The basic structure on which classification and commission control, if founded, together with the need and purpose of examination and promotion by merit, are discussed by thhe Public Service Commissioner in his annual' report, presented to Parliament to-day. Re-grading is always the big event of the civil servants’ year, and the factors that underlie it are the subject of an interesting review by the Public Service Commissioner (Mr Paul Verschaffelt). Surveying the subject generally, he remarks that the principles that have guided him are based on the trend of legislation dealing with Public Service administration in nearly all the English-speaking countries during recent years. The New Zealand system has long passed the experimental stage, and, says the Commissioner, “despite the captain’s criticism of a few people who are fired by interest other than those of efficiency in public administration, and the ocassional disgruntled murmurings of certain individual officers, there is abundant evidence that the system has stood the test of time and has proved advantageous from the point of view of effective administration, and produced beneficial results to officers of the Public Service. Duty and responsibility are the criteria in determining grading, and personal qualification, education, experience, tehcnical knowledge, special aptitude, native ability, and physical attributes go to make up the Bill.

In determining classification, a personal visit to nearly every office in New Zealand occasioned with delay and inconvenience, has ensured the Commissioner with a betterinsight into the workings of the departments and better appreciation of the difficulties and conditions under which district offices are conducted. It was not practicable in the recent quin-quennial re-grad-ing to take full recognisance. To do so would be to found a salary revision, and that might be only on temporary conditions. However, the factor was not disregarded, and in so far as the salaries have been adjusted to bring them into relation with the payments made by private employers, particularly where those payments were subject to Arbitration Court awards, it was patent that current economic conditions had full consideration in the revised gradings of positions: PROMOTION IN THE SERVICE.

“It is generally recognised,” say the Commissioner, “that in order to organise an efficient, loyal and contented staff, it is desirable as far as is practicable to make all appointments from within the Service. While this principle is embodied in the Public Service Act and is adopted in filling vacancies, it does not follow that efficiency is subordinated to ‘vested interest.’ The Public Service Regulations provide for special consideration being given in regard to appointments to holders of University degrees, or of approved certificates from any University college that the candidate has attained special knowledge in any scientific subject. This practice has promoted a maximum of interest by officers in the work of the departments and is calculated to reward those mostly entitled when vacancies arise. As indicative of the extent to which it was necessary last year to look outside the Service for suitable appointees, it is of interest to note that excluding new entrants for training purposes, 91 persons were appointed from outside the Public Service.”