PUBLIC SERVANTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 111, Issue 18619, 23 April 1932, Page 6

PUBLIC SERVANTS.

NO ALLIANCES.

THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK,

(Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, Friday. ‘‘So difficult has been the position created for those who have served the State faithfully and well that there have been many who have been prepared to resort to measures not consistent with the principles for which the association has always stood,” said Mr E. D. Sinclair (chairman of the Wellington section committee of the Public Service Association) at the annual meeting. “One of the main principles for which the Public Service Association has always stood Is that of refraining from entering into political alliances of any nature whatever. The public servant is an official of the State, and so long as he remains a public servant must carry out the State’s business.

“When men’s pockets are that is the time when their loyalty to their principles is tested, and to-day is the testing time for the principles of the Public Service Association." Another reason, continued Mr Sinclair, why the service should not declare its allegiance to any particular party was the consequent very probable" loss of that privilege, so hardly won, so jealously guarded, and yet so precariously held, of a non-political classified service under commissioner control. To those parties who expected open allegiance to their policies let it be said that if and when they occupied the Treasury benches loyal and'efficient service was expected, the same loyal and efficient service would not he denied to those who preceded and to those who succeeded them into office.

Precariously Held.

“When I say that our present classified system is precariously held, 1 say also that at the present moment, owing to the failure to provide payment of increments, the system is in serious danger of stultification," said Mr Sinclair. “The failure to pay increments strikes at the roots of our classification system and nullifies the work of years and the hopes for the future.

“It is one of the primary duties of any Government in power to recognise the disabilities under which its servants labour, their lack of provision for appeal against the decision of their employer, and the lack of every provision for consultation with the employers. In any decision of the Government affecting the public service the service organisations must take the initiative if they desire the voice of the service to he heard, and musf then sit in at a game in which all the cards may have been previously stacked against them. The failure of the New Zealand Government to recognise the responsibilities toward its servants has been a very serious matter for those whose welfare is affected.”