H.—l9d

7

Pave 27. 38. Travelling-allowances of Lieutenants and Captains to be increased to 12s. 6d. per diem. Vide 137. Page 64. Page 27. 39. Too much being paid to returned, soldiers in offices. Too much is not being paid to returned soldiers in offices as a rule, but cases occur where married and children's allowances create anomalies in favour of married men. A system of grading exists whereby both civil and military staffs are classified according to the duties undertaken, to ensure as far as possible a similar rate of pay for similar class of work. Page 27. 39a. Instances of anomaly in orderly's pay. Very few married military "orderlies" have been appointed since married and children's allowances were payable.; and it must be remembered that if the civilian messenger has to work overtime he would receive Is. Oil. per hour for this work, whereas the military orderly has to work whenever required without overtime, and in most cases, particularly in the earlier days, put in over six hours' overtime per week, which made his pay often less than the rate received by the civilian. Government civilian messengers are supplied with a uniform, so that the military orderly has only a small advantage in this item. Page 28. 40. Employment of returned, soldiers at military rales alongside of Public Service employees likely to create trouble. Experience has proved that trouble can and is avoided by good office management, Paoe 28. 41. Officer of high rank of pay doing work that could be done by subordinates. Although in tho early part of the war it was necessary to accept the services of officers offering irrespective of rank, for a considerable time past no senior officers have been accepted for work that could be done by juniors. Occasion has also been taken to replace senior officers as far as practicable by junior officers returned from the front. Page 28. 42. Constant revision of returned men to enable, fit men to resume service. Vide 153. Page 00. Page 28. 43. Too great a, tendency to employ returned soldiers in jobs that even a woman could do. Vide, 113. Page 59. There are very few, if any, instances where returned soldiers are employed by the Defence Department in positions which might be filled by women. It is just possible that there may be some clerical cases where a woman might be employed if it were possible to get a sufficiently experienced woman. Returned soldiers are employed almost entirely on work which often has phases unsuitable for a woman's presence. Page 28. 44. Returned soldiers to be sent back to civil life, as soon as possible. Vide, 113. Page 59. Page 28. 45. Looseness of establishments. Vide 151. Page 60. Page 28. 46. All staffs of the various Record Offices in Wellington to be entirely civilian on Public Service rates of pay. Vide Am. Page 57. Vide 141. Page 04. (a.) So far as the actual record-rooms are concerned, a'Civil staff could probably do the work as well as a combined Military and Civil staff, provided that experienced clerks as " foremen " in various subsections were available, and rises in pay were given to those showing extra ability and keenness to get through all possible work in ordinary office hours. It is desired to point out, however, that many experienced clerks unfit for active service are anxious to do some war service and volunteer for home service, coming on the strength as privates at 55., plus 45., per day, whereas their ability and experience would enable them to draw salaries from .£3OO to £500 per annum in civil life. The experience of -the Base Records Branch was that until it took on military clerks it was impossible to obtain the number of capable clerks required. (b.) The problem, however, goes further, as the branches concerned are not merely Record Offices, and a certain amount of military knowledge is imperative in the executive staff and the sections of the offices dealing with returned soldiers, recruits, &c.; it is not considered possible to carry on the Base Records and the Recruiting Branches with a civilian executive and staff, unless a proportion of the staff is well versed in military procedure. In military offices dealing with soldiers if is found that troublesome men are most easily dealt with by a non-commissioned officer in uniform. Page 28. 47 Too many officers on pay-roll of District Staffs. District Staffs to be reduced. Vide 3. Page 0. There are not too many officers on District Staffs. They were recently reduced as recommended by Officers Commanding Districts, and almost immediately requests were made