The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1912. THE CIVIL SERVICE AND THE GOVERMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1595, 12 November 1912, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1912. THE CIVIL SERVICE AND THE GOVERMENT.

■■■. .— •■■-■ ■ In our support of. t>he principle of non-political control. 'of the _ Civil Service,, now happily embodied in the first Statute .Book Of the Reform Government, ,\Ve'have-always endeavoured to- maintain the" position that the moral benefits of this '.reform must be of more : importance' than the practical benejits> ihe. curse; of the old system of. i bossism. has been 1 twofold.• It .has generated : ' extravagance unnecessary "and unwise appointments.or promotions) and inflicted injustice on individuals; in. the second place it created in the. Service, a widespread idea that* the' Civil Servants . owe, their: first duty ajid. all their loyalty, not to.the State,, bufito' tfurpeople in power. This second;. evil is ( perhaps, the greater* If .we. cared to, wei.could cite several: little incidents to show that up to the' advent of the Eeforiri Gfoyefniiient to power sbine . of the higher officials iri : the Service —quite enough of them to. impress. the_ rank and exhibited, their affection for" the old.' Spoils Ministry. ' From tithe, to fcim.e in the past, indeed, wo: have found'it necessary to .notice- the rather' more glar- , ing breaches of d'utyVin ,th.is respect; by- leading, officers' ,b». the -Govern:ihe'nt. Some of them closely identic I fied themselves with the purely partyVj festivals of the' old Goyer'nmeiit; ■there are on record.as Parliamentary, returns mofe. : than/6rie : cfacit*'-' mont prepared by a Departinental head not for the purpose of impartially recording facts,, but for the purpose .of bolstering' up, the- old party. . But, of'course, it ia known that, the long era of "liberal" bossism, which, brought into high places' iri the Service' many. .rijen whose chief ■qualification!-' was their party loyalty, did deriioratis'e .this whole Service in this way.' ■ Excuses may. be offered on the Score that officials closely in contact with, ,aiid necessarily acting largely, ja co-operation with, the same set-.of- Ministers, for. .a great many years, eoujd: : hardly avoid a feeling stronger than official friendship for , thejf ; rltjrtisterial chiefs at all. But thafrcicufe- cannot be accepted.. Lbyftlty : ;fe:h'i's official duty, and a scrupulous avoidance even of the appearance pf. party zeal, are the highest obligations of the Civil Servant. Who, GhristchiiTch Press, in its ..comment ugoriinV-imd-ing of the Public Accoiint-s- Committee' in the matter of the-.Advances Department, points out that the tone .Of Mr. .PovNTdk'g evidence,, and his attitude to hit , Ministerial chief,, showed that.this' pffibial. cannot easily, work with the Minister in future; It notes, .as mftriy people niii'stf have noticed, the 'great .rapidity with which Mii. FoyNtfoS was pushed 'fo> ward by the Continuous- Ministry,. and it adds, in our Opinion Justly, that "it is open to. question whether their haste to promote him did not sometimes preclude proper ation as to the particular posts for which he was best- fitted," We quote' this only to illustrate otir paint that under Ministerial control of tho Ser* vice the public can never' feel certain that'from top to "bottom the Service will feel entirely indofj.endent of any party. So far as Mft. Mas'set is concerned, nobody wlip kriow-s him will doubt that.he wjil pot'care at all what his Officers' polities are So long' as they leave their: politics at. home-. In any event, the Public Service Act which his Government has placed upon the Statute Book makes it immaterial what Mft. Massky or his colleagues may think oh the subject, Within the next few months there will be a great mahy\elfiangeS in the United States (Federal) Civil Service, for although Dr, WilsGn, the President-elect ig ,sfi , honourable man, he. will be . governed by the- Democratic patty, and that party is not going to forego the spoils of victory/ During the Presidential campaign thousands of Civil Servants fought Openly in the interests of the Republicans. In'a mildor way, many leading public servants were strong Wardists in the past. One easily remembers party celebrations adorned by prominent Departmental officials; but nobody ever heard of a prominent Departmental official coming within gunshot of any Reform party gathering, Perhaps, in most cases, the hew order of 'things will restore' the lost sense of propriety, but we fancy some years of non-political control must elapse before, the Service is entirely free of tho bad idea that the Government, and- not the < State, is the master.