DUTY OF PUBLIC SERVICE

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1932, Page 8

DUTY OF PUBLIC SERVICE

EXISTENCE SOLELY FOR STATE.

CLEAR OF PARTY POLITICS. Aloofness from party politics is the attitude insisted upon by a leading article in the current issue of the “Public Service Journal.” The article emphasised that the service exists solely for the State, not the State for the service, and concludes by saying that the present and future call for Public Service Association members is, primarily, for courage in facing the present difficulties.

“It is established by tradition that the Public Service shall not become involved in party politics, and that tradition was born of that experience which is the mother of wisdom,” the article says. “The State is governed by a ministry selected from the party holding the majority of votes, and the alliance or affiliation of the Public Service through its organisations with any political party eligible to control the reins of government would represent an attempt by the Public Service to impose a restraint upon the administration. That restraint, however circumscribed, would tend toward the State existing for the Service, rather than the Service for the State, which is the sole reason for the very existence of a Public Service.

“The events of the last six months have but intensified the view which we quote, and, however sore beset our members have been, and will continue to be as the result of the session just terminated, it is essential for them to recognise to the full that aloofness to party politics must ever be x our attitude if we arc to recognise the ethical side of our traditions.

“Negotiations between the association and the Government is the keynote to the maintenance of reasonable conditions in the Public Service and its advancement, status, efficiency and true economy,” the article continues. “All these are necessary to the existence both of the Service and of the people, and it is the sympathy and co-operation of the people, and Parliament as a whole rather thau a party, to which the Public Service has to appeal for the accomplishment of these objectives. “To-day we consider that the Service has not been fairly dealt with in the recent legislative enactments, but, however we may fret and fume because of this, we must not be tempted into departing from the clearly-defined channels which tradition has laid down for us. “The Public* Service has passed through a period of anxiety and difficulty which was hitherto unknown to us. This is of course a reflex of the depression which the world in general —and the State in particular —is suffering; and almost every business house in New Zealand finds itself in the same position. “Reductions of salary, retrenchments, the modifying and in some cases the abolition of allowances, together with poorer working conditions have fallen widespread and destructively upon us. Personal sacrifices for the common good have been made, and even though we consider that the Service has been more than harshly treated, particularly in its lower grades, true men and women in the Service will-face our misfortunes courageously. “No organisation of workers in or outside the Service has been able wholly to stay the economic storm. Our organisation, in. co-operation with other Service organisations, has at least been able to modify its effects, and, as we stated in last issue, as the result of representations through the channels open to-us, have possibly minimised the reductions, and certainly saved the salary increments and allowances not in the nature of salary. In addition our superannuation scheme is still intact. It may be good to remind ourselves, however, that nothing that has been taken away was obtained in the first instance except by the patient persistency of the association.

“The present and future call to our members is, primarily, for courage and the will to exist. The recent measures of economy taken by the Government represent the plucking of the fruit from our trees. The trees themselves remain, and it is for public servants, cooperatively, to ensure that as New Zealand finds its way out of its financial troubles, they again reach full bearing.”