The Daily News FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1934. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 June 1934, Page 4

The Daily News

FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 1934. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

OFFICES: NEW PLYMOUTH, Currie Street. STRATFORD, Broadway. HAWERA. High Street.

Quite a considerable discussion has been taking place in Christchurch in regard to a proposal affecting the Civil Service of the Dominion. It has been suggested that a “higher division” of the service should be created from which all appointments to the principal administrative positions would be made, and that entrants to the higher division must have had a full-time university training. Evidently the proposal is modelled on the Civil Service of Great Britain. There, as in New Zealand, entrance to the Civil Service is by open competition. Theoretically this applies to the whole of the noncombatant public services. In practice the status demanded of applicants for certain appointments is such as to make it necessary for them to have had university training. In regard to the higher diplomatic and administrative posts controlled by the Foreign Office or the Secretary of State for India the requirements in regard to the suitability of candidates are even stricter, but they include a fulltime University training almost as a matter of course. For it is assumed that in university life the would-be administrative official will learn more than academic subjects .or even specialised knowledge. He will learn what used to be called “the humanities,” not only by a study of the teaching of history but by association and competition with men and women of his or her own calibre whose outlook and opportunities are, speaking generally, very much alike. It must be admitted that the English method has worked well. When the old system of “nomination” to the public service was abolished, there were many who feared that the standard of entrant would be lowered. Socially this probably occurred, jbut in efficiency and loyalty the “open competition” service has more than held its own. It is but 20 years since political control of the Public Service was ended in New Zealand. No one knows better than the civil servants themselves that its abolition has been for the benefit of the public, and also for them.. On the whole the New Zealand Public Service can challenge comparison with older and larger organisations as a methodical, obedient and loyal administrative body. That is not to say there is no room for improvement either in personnel or system. Under the present system of promotion seniority would seem to count almost as much as efficiency, and there is sometimes a tendency to narrowness of vision among officials holding the higher administrative positions. Whether the separation of those positions into, a class to which entrance could be obtained only after a full-time University training would improve the calibre of official appointed is a very open question. Speaking generally, such a training would be an asset to everyone who is taking up a career that is likely to mean control of subordinates. On the other hand, is there sufficient scope within the New Zealand Public Service to warrant its division into higher and lower sections, apart altogether, of course, from the existing departmental gradings of certain classes of work? If not, is the Service likely to attract, as it does in Britain, the more brilliant of university students ? If it does not then there seems to be little to be gained by an arbitrary division of the service unless it will make for increased efficiency in the lower ranks. Present time grading has done a good deal to quicken effort towards efficiency. To-day, for instance, in nearly every case where a civil servant desires to obtain promotion to a position entailing the handling of accounts he must show that he has the necessary qualifications. In the railway service also the need for self-training is kept before the staff, and promotion very largely depends upon the efforts made in this direction. All this is good, for if there is one lesson the Dominion and other countries must learn from the present economic stress it is that in the days to come inefficiency in any walk of life will be the unpardonable sin. In the world of commerce such transgression will bring its own swift punishment. In public affairs the cost of inefficiency will be just as real though not always so apparent. Any suggestion therefore for the improvement of the Dominion’s public service merits careful and dispassionate consideration. It is not the question of social standing or of official status that should decide whether a univer-sity-trained staff is desirable for certain administrative positions. The question that requires an

answer is whether the creation of such a staff will add to the efficiency of the civil service as a whole.