PUBLIC SERVANTS AND LOCAL BODIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1779, 18 June 1913, Page 6

PUBLIC SERVANTS AND LOCAL BODIES.

The Prime Minister has expressed Himself as favourable to the principle of "railway employees and other Oivil Sorvanta" participating ia,wi jpolitics. JBh {'najticiDat-.

ing" is meant contesting office on local bodies. The question is one upon which there has at times boon a good deal of discussion, and strong opinions arc held on both sides. 'A case can be made out in favour of State employees being granted the right to join in the turmoil of local politics, but it must be very obvious that if unrestricted freedom is thus given to Civil Servants, there are very real possibilities of embarrassing situations arising and the public interest being prejudiced. Supposing, for instance, the Under-Secretary for Public Works ' had municipal ambitions, and successfully contested the Wellington Mayoralty. Mn. Blow as Mayor of the city might be called on at any time to fight the Public Works Department in connection r with tramway regulations or over some other matter. Plainly his position would be an undesirable one. A clerk in the Education Department might sccuro a scat on an Education Board, and come into conflict with his Departmental head, and so on throughout most of the branches of the service. It must not be overlooked that Civil Servants, by virtue of their public positions, in many cases have an intimate knowledge of matters which aro of a confidential or semi-confidential nature, relating not only to the affairs of individuals, but also to those of local bodies, and it is difficult for anyono to avoid unconsciously making use of such knowledge when forming a judgment_ or expressing an opinion on questions relating thereto. The attitude of mind of a State employee towards the public and local bodiSs with whom in his official capacity lie mav have dealings must be altered, perhaps unconsciously, where the State employee becomes a suppliant for votes or holds office on a local body. At present he is uninfluenced by any feeling other than the plain performance of his duty; he is not a partisan; he is unfettered by obligations to supporters, and is untroubled by any conflicting interests affecting local bodies. Once embarked on the sea of local politics, however, and his outlook must inevitably change. It may be that his position in the Public Service is such that his duties to the Service will never conflict with his obligations to the local body of which he has become a member, but the fact remains that he will have lost that detachment from public affairs which has assisted so much to keep the Public Service of the country so free from suspicion of bias or partisanship in its relations with tho public. It is'the moral effect of the Public Service mixing in local politics rather than the actual risk of a conflict of interests that has most to be feared. The Prime Minister, we think, is wrong in the view he takes. It may be a hardship to some Civil Servants; it may be that the local bodies and the public lose something through the services of Civil Servants not being available to them; but tho interests of the State demand that the Public Service of the country shall be beyond all suspicion of bias or prejudice, or of being subject to any exterior influence in the performance of their piiblic duties as State employees.