THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1845, 3 September 1913, Page 6

THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

No more valuable document" has been- laid before Parliament this session than the first report of the Public Service Commissioner,' presented to. the House of Representatives yesterday. It is far too lengthy to have permitted anything more than a hasty scrutiny of its main features, but a rapid glance through its was sufficient to show that it contains a wealth of information concerning the state and working of the Public Service of the Dominion, and also the fullest justification for the handing over of the control of the Service to a nonpolitical Board. It is safe to say that such an insight has never before been afforded Parliament and the country into the workings of the Public Service, although the Royal Commission ,of 1912 did much to enlighten the public. The outstanding feature of the report is perhaps the_ evidence it affords of the astonishingly rapid manner in which the Commissioners have settled down to their now tasks and the remarkable progress they have_ made in placing the Scr vice on an improved footing, both as regards efficiency and cost of working. In a brief seven months the_ Commissioners have already seen their way to institute economies totalling something like £47,000 a year, and this mainly through the introduction of business-like methods and system. Space does not permit of a full review of. the very interesting document ,laid'before Parliament yesterday, but its contents only require to be made known to the peopleof the Dominion for them to appreciate how great a service was rendered the country by the Hon. A. L. Herdman when he succeeded in getting Parliament to place the Public Service Act amongst the Statutes of New Zealand.