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Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1639, 4 January 1913, Page 3

Tho Public Sotvico Commissioners held lengthy Kittings yesterday and were busily engaged with preliminary details of their important duties. Mr. D. Robertson, Chief Commissioner, had little mpro to communicate, when ho was interrogated by "a. reporter, than that ho and his colleagues liad' dono a hard day's work and •had any amount of work in prospect. A question that is giving riso to some spocu T , ktion in tho Publio Service at tho present time is that of classification. It is open to tho Commissioners either to adopt , tho provisional classification prepared under : tho Ward Administration, to adopt this classification in some; modified form, or to prepare o new classification. ■ Mr. Robertson declined yesterday to discuss this question, and contented .himself with tho remark that civil servants before very long bo made acquainted with tho intentions of tho Commissioners regarding classification and other. things. Somo doubt appears to exist as to whether tho Commissioners havo time to havo a now | classification, prepared before April 1, when, they are to tako over control of tho Public Service. In auy case, it is universally recognised that Mr. Robertson, Mr. R.. Triggs, and Mr. A. D. Thomson, will havo an enormous amount of work in hand during tho next fow months. Ono of tho first duties of tho Commissioners, it is understood, will bo to prepare a report, for presentation to Parliament, upon the present state of tho Public Service. A collector of records of ccntenarianism reports tho recont death of an Italian peasant woman at tho ago of 188. Ho mentions two other centenarians who havo exceeded tho ago of tho noted Dr. Parr, who died at 152; ono of these, Thomas Cam, is credited'with 207 years, and tho other, William Edwards, with 108 years. All these easc3 of extreme longevity are to bo marked with an interrogation point, for parish registers are sometimes altered and tombstones tampered with. During tho present southern crniso of tho llinenioa quite a number of transfers ai'o taking effect amongst tho lighthouse-keepers.'"Principal-keeper I'arkcs transfers from Tencarrow to Centre Island, and Principal-keeper .Cox transfers from Centre Island to Capo Pnllisor. Prin-cipal-keeper Hart goes from Cape Egmont lighthouse to Pitysegur, and PrincipalIconyor Voylo will bo trausforred from j'uysoffnr w TM-Tirij