Civil Service Problems.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14976, 25 May 1914, Page 6

Civil Service Problems.

Civil Service reform has for some years been considered necessary in Great Britain, and a "Roval'Commission was appointed in 1912 to go into the whole fjuestion. Its report was issued as a Blue Book last month, and is a document of so much importance that "The " Times'' gave up more than a pago of its _pr.ee for the printing of a t-um-mary of tho Commission's remarks and rocommendations. Some of the observations of tho Commission, which was » very strong one, under the chairmanship of Lord McDonnell, aro of special interest to New Zealand, and we may say at once that they constitute a weighty testimony to the wisdom of the reform which our own Government lost no tiroo in bringing into effect. Three or four generations ago the English Civil Service was d small system of Government employment under an aristocratic regime, and nepotism, with nil 'ts bad results, was rampant. Tho present-day danger, with a vast system of Government employment under a democratic regime, is inefficiency flowing out of political influence As "The "Times" puts it, ''the distribution of

"office is far more pernicious as an *"' instrument of electoral bribery or "political power than as tho plaything "of family influence." This danger has long been recognised, and.the-history of Civil Service reform has been a record of tho steady growth of the principle that tho Sorvico should lie removed as far as possiblo from political management. The Commission of course, as everyono must, that there will always ho posts which must be filled by nomination, but it speaks plainly on the general principle. In some cases, it says, unfit persons wero appointed by tho politicians, and it adds—

At the pre*r«nt time, when patrona-je aa a nornj-1 Byatow of recniitip-- has been •reaerally abandoned for more than a generation in favour of a system which purports to open » careor to talent, we regard appointments of th'fl- kind as an anachronism. They are diss heartening, and give colour to the suspicion that Governments- may attach greater valuo to pcrsqnal servjeo to a particular Minister or to a -jvolitical party than to lifelong efficient servico to the State.

The same note of hostility to political control of tho Service appears in tho section dealing with the civil rights of Civil Servants.

Members of the general Departmental and Professional Civil Service (it ie urged)'should bo placed under an obligation to observe a. proper reserve and reticence both in speech and writing in respect to political questions. Civil _orv-»l» should not, save in,exceptional cake.", run tho risk of being mixed up in local politics, which run on parallel or converging linea with political controversies.

Gouerally, tho Commission thinks' that if rcstrictians on tbe political activities of public servant* were- withdrawn, two results would probably follow. - The public might cease to believe, us wo think they do now with Teason believe, in the iinyartiality of tho permanent Civil Service; and Ministers might cease, to feel the well-merited confidence which they possess at present in the loyal and faithful supcort of their official •rubordin&tes; indeed, they mi-fht be led to scrutinise the utterances or writings of such subordinates, to select for positicna of ronfidenco only those whose sentiments were known to be in poljlic-l sympathy with their own.

It is easy to imagine what an intelligent Englishman of any party would say to the anti-Reformers.-' proposal that our Civil Service, libera tod at last from political influence, should bo placed once more within the power of tho politicians, in order that tho baser sort of M.P.'s might secure billets for their friends and supporters.

But, of course, every person who really cares for tho public interest knows that politics should be kept from soiling tho Fublic Service, and it is only natural that the fundamental principle of the Reform Government's Bill should direct the general tenor of the British Royal Commission's view. On another point, however, the Commission's report serves to illustrate one groat advantago of the syt-tem of Cdromissioner control. Ono great fault of onr old system was tho want of coordination between departments and tho entire absence of any sort of general control or supervision. This fault appears in tho English Civil Service, and tho Commission recommends somo_ central control of the whole system. Nor does it mean a mere consultative committee of Departmental heads, but a special Department within tho Treasury to do some of the work which our Commissioners discharge—to exercise, that is to say, a "general oversight." This recommendation, it may safely be expected, will be adopted, and it will certainly lead, as the "Daily Mail" says it ought to lead, to a permanent Commission entirely independent of tho Ministry, but, of course, entirely under Parliamentary control. "Wo have _-jii_trd_ienou_:h-„wQ,thipk.v,fr9.__j_^

momentous report to satisfy the local enemies of Civil Service reform that they represent an utterly discredited doctrine.