THE MICROBE OF DISCONTENT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11029, 18 March 1914, Page 4

THE MICROBE OF DISCONTENT.

i' , While Mirnsfers are careering about amongst the'rural constituencies, declaring that Commissioner control is ' just the tiling* and that every Civil f servant is sitting contentedly in his 1 his faco irradiated with a nuin- { who smile, spokesmen of the Post "ajjd Telegraph Association are rising ' ! nj> to say that there is a "great deal 'of friction about," that there is a | " deadlock," that the Association is *- up against it," and that tbeCommis--1 iioners are "dogmatic" and "dictatorial," after the fashion of Sir Oracle,

[flwho, when he " oped- his lips, let no ■ dbg bark." Ninety per cent of the men j in flic Post and Telegraph service are ' dissatisfied with the way tilings have ' been going . on, says a " well-known postal officer and an active member of , the Association," who avers that resiponsible officers of the Department Vre, under the new regime, treated like ichOolbovs and ignored and snubbed by the Commissioners. The difficulty of the situation is that many of the grievances complained of have to do with technicalities with Which the public are unfamiliar., but what the community does know is that , it-has in its Postal and Telegraph Ser-

ticijV a body of conscientious and highly efficient public servants, who would not .'lift''making the wilkin ring with their - protests if they were not solidly justi- ! Jed in their complaints, One, would thought that, in view of the fact tfcit the Chief Commissioner was oraw-n -froUl tho Post and Telegraph Depart'jnent itself, all would have been as 'irtfrry as a marriage bell. It is quite evident that the contrary is the case. ( jp^rhaps.. Mr Herdnv j or one of his ■! \< \i A 1 ».

breathlessly, peripatetic colleagues will presently spare a few hours from " Reform " tea parties and deputations to look into the mattfer before a crisis is involved necessitating the employment of specials to carry the mails. The further point may be made that ihtt Public Service Commissioners, with their retinue of clerks and satellites, constitute a very expensive item to the country. Jf they can find no better occupation than to set public servants by the ears by their punctiliousness and lack of tact they will come to be regarded as very expensive luxuries indeed.