The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1888. CIVIL SERVICE HOURS.
Thanks to the pressure of the demand for thorough-going retrenchment, the days of la-dc da-ism m the Civil Service are numbered. We do not suppi se for a moment that it was ever true m New Zealand that Government officers for want of. anything better to do, occupied their time m paring their filbert nails, or m drawing caricatures of their superiors, but for all that, m the good old days not a few of them had pretty rosy times of it — pay good and steady, nay, unfailing m its regularity and very little to do, and that within the very gentlemanly and pleasant hours of 10 to 4. Bu» nous avous change tout cda long ago, and for a good while past it has been a case of working and not playing during recognised working hours, and now co*nes news of the veiy sensible determination to extend the number of working hours, assimilating them more nearly to those of business establishments. Latterly we think the hours at the Wellington offices have been from 9.30 a.m. to 4 30 p.m., with half an hour oft at midday for luncheon, and now it seems they are to be lengthened by a half-hour by substituting 9 a.m. for 9 30 and 5 for 4 30, with an hour allowed at midday. I It is satisfactory to see that a reasonable day's work is to be required for a day's indeed «/e d^npt see that there would pay, be the smallest hardship m further ex- ■ tending the hours so tfrat jth/sy £hall begin at 9 a.m. and close* at 6 p.fl?. \ The hour from 1 to 2 allowed for for dinner would thus leave eight working hours which should be the rule jn the Government service as well as m tlie labop market. It would not be a bad idea for coff}C honorable member to bear this m *mnd wfcen jibe Eight Hour* Bill is ne*t before JParlia- 1 £«nt, gns to f raft upon jt a elapse
slipuValing that eight hours work sh uld ] be the rule among all employees m the Civil Service. No doubt the few remaining "curled darlings" of the Wellington offices would protest against ihis as a piece of unheard-of cruelty, but their remonstrances could be iffectually answered by the reply that if the service be itksome upon such terms ;he walks of private life or ordinary business employment are open to them. Let them try a bank or a merchant's | >ffice and they will find that much longer hours often prevail, and why the colony should accept fewer hours than the ordinary average as a day's work we altogether fail to see.
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Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1744, 19 January 1888, Page 2
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460The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1888. CIVIL SERVICE HOURS. Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1744, 19 January 1888, Page 2
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