THAT APPOINTMENT

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1094, 5 April 1911, Page 6

THAT APPOINTMENT

"RAILWAY OFFICERS' ADVOCATE'S" COMMENT. Curiously enough (says tho "Railway Officers' Advocate" editorially) the Minister for Railways, who was very prompt in supplying an answer to (he first letter which appeared in our correspondence columns concerning the appointment of Mr. 11. M". Millar to the position of assistant ■electrician and draftsman, has not seen fit to take any notice of the second letter which' "Searchlight" contributed to the discussion, although the necessity for an explanation of the matter has been pointedly remarked upon by leading newspapers. It may, perhaps, assist the Hon. Mr. Millar to frame a reply if one or two additional facts are made public. The appointment first became generally known when the list of members entitled to vote for tho election of representatives to the North Island . Railway Appeal Board was published in December last. Mr. H. M. Millar was shown on this list as "assistant electrician and draftsman," and presumably it was on the information obtained from this source that "Searchlight" founded the main points 'of the letter which was published in our February number. On January 1G an official list, showing the members whoso residence in Wellington rendered them eligible for election to act as scrutineers to an election shortly to take place, was circulated, and on this paper Mr. Millar, jtr.ir., was described as a clerk, having evidently been relegated to his old position. Therefore, when on February 10 tho •Hon. Mr. Millar made a statement apparently calculated to fully justify his son's appointment, he was defending a position that had been abandoned-as untenable at least three weeks earlier. It was perfectly well understood by the officers of the Railway Department that (he appointment was intended merely as a stepping-stone to a considerably higher position, the creation of which was foreshadowed when it was decided to operate the Arthur's Pass tunnel (when completed) by electricity. From the position of assistant electrician and draftsman to the more highly paid one indicated would be a simple step, and one, moreover, (hat could be effected without in any way' infringing Hie railway regulations.