"AN ELECTIONEERING x DODGE." <v

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 14 October 1911, Page 5

"AN ELECTIONEERING x DODGE." <v

CIVIL SERVICE CLASSIFICATION, SEVERE COMMENTS. "ABSOLUTELY USELESS TO US." Tho Civil Service classification list, which was laid on tho (able of the Houso of Representatives during tho week, has caused a groat deal of dissatisfaction among tho members of the service. "There is going to bo a big row over this," said a Civil Servant to a pressman yesterday. "What's tho good of this? I as absolutely useless to us. No one ,™ ) 1 , h0 . t » n 8 si »'Ply states that -MKr ( "Ity pwsoM cla «ifiod together, and that (say) two of tho eitOit l n ***$*' «™,°a°nd M ivMoh is his proposed salary? It does not gITO a? „ a!j htet J fatisfacHo and wo require the names, and why could te P 'iv ft Biv^ n ihm? I* ns !iw lh T] thC3 ' mS ™ wdl do «> m 5 as later. iho reason, of course, is that ilte an electioneering dodge. - Wo havo waited four years for this," & l»at diaatrfacHon and d scon Lit is running through the whole K nfcn What we need is a really good strike o "':° n »?«* "> "J? «rrico aro afrS H,„; Pen ■ ■ lelr m o«tn*-afraid of losing kZ I' 05 ' 110 " 6 - , W ? wwo « M '«m s know how our salaries were to be affectcd by this scheme, and were hoping to be able to ge the information from what was laid on tho table of the House Wo know hat the officers aro not being paid according to their worth-Sat they are being paid according to favour and pressure brought to bew in their tolerate Ino man who qualifies himself gets no extra payment for making himself of extra value o tho service. Usually it is the loafer, the friend of snmebooS in power, the man who puts ou a spurt towards the end of tho y*ar, who gets whatever is going. Merit counts for almost nothing. What sort of an ormngemont is it for a man to be paid less than another man who is junior to him in the same office? Where there are men in that position and an adjustment has been promised, how can the men tell by this list whether tho promise has been fulfilled reasonably, or whether it has been broken altogether? Such positiona are anomalous, but no ont can get satisfaction. ,"^' 1 , I y.„ ca , n ' t Ul ° Government bo he wished to know. Ho answered his own question: "It's no use expecting them to be straight; they couldn't if they tried. Wo havo practically no redress," he continued. "We can t get to tho Minister. We can't get past the Departmental head, and ho makes our representations to the Minister; and if we don't get what wo want ho blames it on to the Minister, but wo never really know where we arc, and tho Ministers are not in touch with the members of tho service at all. "Then tako our position in the matter of appeal. If wo aro not satisfied with our classification we may appeal to tho ve jy board who made the classification. We will never get any satisfaction out of this affair. No ono expects to. It is an electioneering move. They havo been dallying with the thing for so long that they absolutely had to do something. And they havo brought down this meaningless thing hoping it.will help to tido them over tho election." STATEMENT BY THE PREMIER. In tho Houso yesterday afternoon, Mr' J. F. Arnold stated that tho Civil Service Classification List, which had been tabled on the previous day, had been circulated among members of the service, but many of them were unable to discover therefrom what their own positions were. Members of Parliament find tho same difficulty. Was it tho intention of tho Government to bring down a nominal list, showing, tho name, position, and salary of every office and every civil servant, as had formerly been done? Sir Joseph Ward said tho nominal list was being prepared, and if it was ready before tho end of the session it would bo laid on tho table of the Houso. If it was not ready in time for that, it would bo circulated in tho recess as soon as it was ready. Full opportunity would be given to civil servants to appeal against the classification before it became law. In tho meanwhile, they would be ablo to gain some indication as to where they stood from tho increases that were to bo provided for in tho Supplementary , Estimates.