LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1371, 23 February 1912, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE LANDS DEPARTMENT, Sir,—lt w,as perhaps hardly to bo ex pectcd that tho important subject of Civil Servico reform would have been touched upon in the Governor's Speech. Such a proposal would no doubt be regarded sis savouring of self-condemnation, and yet I doubt if there is any subject which at the present time is entitled to more careful consideration. Take tho Lands Department alone. Here is a Department which, in tho interest of lands settlement, should bo in a high, state of efficiency, but it has been allowed, during the past fow years, to drift into a stale of .disorganisation and decay. lho Department which for so long a time was looked upon as a Department of vigour and was marked by administrative capacities of a high order, is now in a state of chaos. Hut what a falling-off is there. Tho Department has now become the recognised Departmental haven for the reject, the derelict, and tho incompetent and a dry rot pervades the whole.

.I'lio life, blood .'of the Department—tho highly-trained young surveyor—trained at New Zealand s ; expense have been allowed to go one by ono until, th'oy are now- scattered "all over the world, much to their country's loss—the few who remain being-.paid barely as much as a tramway conductor; are intensely dissatisfied, just waiting their chance to get ,out.

The opportunity now offers itself to the ■incoming Government of reorganising this •important Department. The present Under-Secretary retires by effluxion of time at the end of March. What is wanted is that the most capable man in the Department should bo appointed as Under-Secretary. While there aro undoubtedly at least 50 men in the Department who could manage the Department as-well as it has been managed during tho past few years, there are -probably ten men who could:do it very much better. Lot the new . Government call for applications for the position 'of UnderSecretary open to all officers of the Department, then let a board deal with the applications and select the best man for the position. .This. is the practice in most of the Australian States. After all it is only proceeding on the lines of .commonsense., The peoplo of New Zealand aro certainly entitled to the best value they can get for the JE9OO a year paid to the holder of the office.—l am, etc., .;.'.. INDEX.

Sir,—l noted in your columns some short ti'mo ago the announcement of the .resignation of the Under-Secretary for ' ■Lands at the end of tho present mouth. Will you kindly favour mc with the space in your columns to make a few remarkß oh the fillinp-up- of this position? Before the Civil Service handle started to turn the .wrong way the position was always held by tho professional'head of the' Lands and Survey Department, viz., tho Surveyor-General. And 1 emphatically say, rightly so. Asa' rule ho has travelled tho whole colony from Cape Maria to' the Muff. He has spent his life in practical contact' with the land nnd its capabilities, with n fair knowledge of its forests, tho timber comprising them, with their uses-and durability, also the water-ways of the wholo colony. To plagiarise, in a measure from your able criticism on "State Afforestation in New Zealand,"- in your issue of October 19 last, it is absurd to expect the Under-Secretary for Lands, if he nas not tho technical knowledge, to do justice to the position. . It is a perfect farce, to place, a man in the above position, whose Civil- Service career has.been passed on an office stool, slinging ink or colour. At the same time losing ho opportunity of intriguing or log-rolling for their own advantage, and to block unfortunate men, who have spent their professional life in the "field" with its drawbacks and hardships, but who enduro them cheerfully in the hopo that theT might in their turn, receive tlie blue ribbon of the profession, viz., as Sur-voyor-Gpneral and Secretary for Lands. Until tho last appointment this rule waß alvravs followed, and it stands to reason that'a man with no practical knowledge of the colony, his no'earthly' title or claim to tho position. It is not so long ago, a gentleman held the position of Commissioner of Crown.Lands, and nominally Chiof Surveyor, who could not lcgallv sign a single plan passing through his office. A man who never executed a survey in the field in his life! And yet this man was paid for and, expected to check his surveyors' work in the field. Anv man holding the above position should certainly be able to toll the difference betweon a theodolite and the Irish bagpipes, alluvial deposits from the old red sandstone, and "fagus fusoa" from black birch. ~.',,, To crown all, I understand a gentleman had his papers endorsed by tho late Eight Hon. K, J. Soddon to fill the above position on the first vacancy. Did anyone ever hear of such a piece of lmpu'donce? One does not know which to admire most, the audacity of the thing or the cheek of asking for it to be done. But it is to lie hoped with the new Government coining into power this sort of thing will carry no weight. But the men who have carried the .burden and heat of the day, havo their just claims considered,'and rewarded accordingly. Thus placing on high a beacon for thoir fellow officers to follow with conndence, perseveranco and hope,- knowing that if they,do their duty,tho blue-ribbon of the servico is a P° '