HOUSING PROBLEM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 54, 25 November 1946, Page 4

HOUSING PROBLEM

EFFECTS of the housing problem on public servants and the public service generally are discussed in an editorial in the “Public Service Journal.” “The housing problem is primarily one of improving the conditions of officers who are transferred from one part of the country to another,” states the article. “The separation of families for months and years is bad socially and is often crippling financially. The effect of other factors is now becoming daily more apparent. Officers are reluctant to take promotion where it involves transfer, and there must be many who deliberately fail to apply for positions for which they are in line. The result is that one-man stays in a job which he has outgrown, while another receives an appointment which he is not completely fitted for. Efficiency is reduced. Where the transfer is' taken it must be obvious that his efficiency is impaired by the separation and the resultant upheaval in his private life. The delays in filling positions and taking up appointments are irritants w T hich increasingly retard the smooth running of departments. Nor can it be denied that individual opportunity is restricted. The tendency is for promotion to be denied to those who have families and who do not occupy State houses or possess financial resources sufficient to overcome the accommodation problem. It will be clearly seen that in asking the Government to acknowledge its responsibilities for housing officers transferred the association is not merely asking for special privileges for its members. It is asking the Government to restore the conditions necessary for an effective administration.”