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Most of the Institute's seven hundred members are public servants. What they can gain in working toward the Institute's objectives can only result in enhancing their value as public servants and, to some extent at least, increasing efficiency in the Service. It is for this reason that the Commission has supported the Institute and encouraged officers to join it. The increasing interest public servants are taking in its activities is gratifying. The Institute has branches in the four main centres. Members are giving their own time to hear addresses by authorities on various aspects of public administration and make up study groups to investigate and report on particular administrative problems. The findings of some of the groups have been helpful to the Commission. The national executive conducts annual conferences and conventions, where major administrative problems are discussed. It publishes both a six-monthly journal and a two-monthly newsletter dealing with current problems. SOME CURRENT PROBLEMS Staffing : General The recruitment of suitable staff still presents a problem in those centres where a state of over-full employment leads to keen competition. There has been an easing in some of the smaller centres, especially in the South Island, and the Commission has been able to be more selective in such towns. Immigration has assisted greatly in meeting some of the more acute shortages of staff. During the year assisted immigrants in the following categories were placed in centres with the greatest shortages : Mental nurses (trained and trainees) .. .. 30 Home aids .. .. .. .. .. .. 9 Shorthand-typists and typists .. .. .. .. 75 Clerical workers (female) .. .. .. .. 142 Forestry workers.. .. .. .. .. .. 122 In addition, numbers of tradesmen and labourers were allocated to Government Departments, and many other new arrivals in New Zealand who arranged their own passages were recruited as clerical workers, &c. ' Staffing : Cadets and Other Juniors The most important form of recruitment is that of juniors. The Public Service attracts many, though not enough, young persons just leaving school. That there are not enough of them arises not only from the abnormally strong competition from other employment, but also from the low birth-rate of the 1931-34 depression. With difficulty, over-all recruitment of juniors has been maintained at the level of the previous year; but there was a further small reduction in the number of clerical cadets obtained. Juniors who joined the Service from December, 1949, to March, 1950, were : Clerical cadets — Boys .. .. .. .. .. 206 Girls .. .. .. .. .. 192 398 Clerical assistants .. .. .. .. .. 92 Shorthand-typists and typists .. .. .. .. 168 Apprentices .. .. .. .. .. .. 78 Draughting cadets .. .. .. .. .. 101 Rural field cadets .. .. .. .. .. 17 Technical trainees .. .. .. .. .. 114 Student dental nurses .. .. .. .. .. 90 Others .. .. .. .. .. .. 48 1,106

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