POLITICS AND PUBLIC SERVICES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1398, 26 March 1912, Page 6

POLITICS AND PUBLIC SERVICES.

•VALUE OF COMMISSIONER SYSTEM. WHY SOME POLITICIANS HATE IT. Tho Melbourno' "Argus" of. llarch 13 has a, striking editorial on the Railway Commissioner system and the reason why "machine." politicians hnte it. The article is as , follows:— ■ ■ •. Commissioner-baiting is a favourite sport amongst politicians in Australia. Public opinion forced upon Parliament its conviction that tho railways cannot bo satisfactorily managed by a Minister, tind Parliament reluctantly consented to Jiaud them over to Commissioners. The change, has been a marked' success, and there is not the slightest prospect of tho old and bad slate of things being restored. Yet the politicians have never ceased to object to the transfer, and therefore Commissioner-baiting as a lneans of disparaging non-political control is always popular with them. The- rule, is that the stronger' and more efficient tho Commissioner tho worse is the treatment! he receives. 3tr. Johnson, Hailway Commissioner of New South Wales, is having a. bad tinio just now; but the- attacks upon him, though virulent, are not nearly so severe as those which his first precedessor, 3tr. Eddy, snstainsd. This is to' some extent a, reflection on Mr. Johnson, but he may rely upon it- that tho better liis management and ,the more, conscientiously ho ol>e.ys the Act which makes him independent of Ministerial interference, tho" worse the outcry will l>scoine, and the- more hope ho-.may entertain .of 'deserving tho posthumous fame now justly accorded to 3lr. Eddy. 31r. Daeey, the Minister. for P.nilways, is greatly aggrieved, and has unburdened Jiis soul to a,casual deputation. He is, he says, "nothing more or less than a rubber stamp. . . . The Chief Commissioner was autocratic mid might snap his fingers at. the Premier." '

; Sir. Jl'Gnwcn, Hie Premier (he renre- : Rants a railway centre), speaking; in l'ar- ' liaijient last week, described the Commissioner as a "Tsar over Parliament."' This of course is exaggeration—just, the sort of wild statement which Labour politicians Know goes down well with tho crowd. But there is an element of truth in the complaint. Tho Commissioner is independent; Parliament, under compulsion of popular opinion, made him so; and if lie were not independent, but had to bend to 'every attempt, to coerce him, he would ha : better away. He would be worse than useless; lie would bo n public danger. The reason Ministers are chafing under authority exercised by the Commissioner is that lie is resisting them in an endeavour to ■liavo lnrge additional concessions made to 'tho railway staff. The Government gave 'the Commissioner "instructions' , to inetituto an eight-hours day throughout the Service and to pay a. minimum wage of Bs. a day to all adults. Now, there is a general election pending in New South Wales, and tho motives which induced tho Ministry to make this order may be easily understood. The Commissioner, however, if ho is worth his salt, must not consider political exigencies. He is in his Jiosition to do his best for the country us a practical and expert administrator, nnd must, if ho thinks it necessary, resist ■the pressure, l.y even a high-minded Labour .Ministry, which, wishes to cntch yotc3. Political bribery with public money is tho thing which above all* others Commissioners are trusted by the public to prevent. There is a wages board which ;leals with tho railway service, and in threo years concessions have been made to the wage-earners which cost tho Stato •■£oU;ooo.per 'annum. If a Ministry could, now, with a general election ponding, step in and cinso further largo and costly concessions to bo made, non-political management ivoiild bo a niero sham, and-the Com- , missionev, appointed to-.stand . between the'peoplo and the politicians, would prove. a recreant to his trust, and would, in the words of tho Minister,, become "a mere rubber stamp." Those who remember the pre-Commis-pioner regime in Victoria—which was the first Stato to institute the now systemwill know that the change delivered us ■from a .condition of misrule and corruption which had hecoinu intolerable. It used to be said—and'the jest had a strong substratum of truth in it—that one leading Minister had denuded his constituency of nearly all .its. young men in order' to cive them billets on the railways. Members of Parliament complained-that they were besieged on their door-steps-in the early morning by billet-hunters, all of .whom hud votes and commanded : more. Ministers were in turn worried by members. Efficiency was the last thing thoujrht of in making . Appointments, and all the concomitants of such a corrupt system wefp rife. Tho railway management was subject to the fads of every heaveri-born Minister whom tho clinnco of nolitics thrust upon the Department. When at last tho politician' was debarred from any nctivo interference iind was ' confined to his proper sphere of dictating policy, there - was a universal sigli of ■ relief, members themselves feeling that they we.'-D emancipated from si degrading thraldom. 1 The improvement effected by the change from political to commercial management—under direction of Parliament as to large questions of policy—has been so conspicuous that no Minister would now dare to .propose to revert to the old method. A Minister may manage the Treasury, the Mines Department, or tho Agricultural Department, and so on, but politicians are disqualified by the very nature of the ra.se trom managing large commercial Departments such as the Railways and the Post Ofiico. It will not bs long before public opinion will compel tho vesting of the I'o.st and Telegraph Department under, the management of expert Commissioners.

Though Kailv.ay Commissioners have done splendid service and havo more than justified their appointment in the several States, their lot has never bean an enviable one. They nri> always . regarded jealously by members, and seldom generously defended by Ministers. They are the. mark for constant acrid attack, and ■they seldom have an opportunity to reply. " They ma!;e mistakes, of course, and do not er.pect to escape all criticism, but they are' badly treated indeed'. when. Ministers, haying failed to make catspaws of theni, turn and rend them for resfstiiig improper interference. Succeeding, Ministries and Parliaments are responsible for much of tho odium that falls upon Commissioners. Mr. Johnson has- been coarsely and savagely attacked for, accidents that have occurred in connection ivith tho Sydney trams, which are-managed as part of the railway system. Hut he lias repeatedly directed attention to the fact that tho trains are inadequate to the traffin requirements, and. asked for improvements. Bounteous seasons and large crops have proved t«o much for the demands upon the railways by tho wheat harvests. But for the centralisation of lines that Ims taken place, and for the want of duplication and development, Ministers and Parliaments must take their share of responsibility, though no one can bo condemned far ■■ not foreseeing and completely providing for a succession of good seasons unexampled in our history. "The Times" just to hand contains an adniission by Sir.. Thomas .Shaughnessy, president of the Canadian Pacific Company, that there is a. ■serious.congestion in traffic on their lines, ami that no fewer than f11,000,000 bu.ihcls of wheat are awaiting transport. Canadian managers have failed to foresee, and provide for the extent ■of the, great boom in settlement and traffic that has taken place in the Dominion. In Australia Railway Commissioners are held "responsible for all such failures, though they are inevitable in the development of new countries. The people will greatly err if they allow victims to be made to political rancour under pretence of failure in management. If Mr. Johnson succumbs to the clamour which is now prevailing against him_, it will be mot because he has failed Lα his duty, but because he has had tho courage and constancy to do it.