MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1857, 17 September 1913, Page 6

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

A story was going the rounds in political circles yesterday that the Opposition had a "surprise packet" in readiness for the Government. Later in the day the packet was delivered by Sir Joseph Ward, in the form of a legal opinion from two eminent K.C. s, who expressed the view that in consequence of the passing of the Public Service Act the House of Representatives has no power to reduce or increase the salaries of public servants under the control of the Commissioners except by statute. Also that the Estimates must be prepared by the Commissioners. On the strength of this opinion the Leader of the Opposition declared the proceedings in Committee of Supply on the Estimates to be illegal. The "surprise packet" does not appear to have created either the surprise or the consternation anticipated. As a _ matter of fact, it is a little surprising that Sir Joseph Ward should have gone to the trouble. and expense of engaging learned counsel to waste their time over such a matter. The conclusions as set' out in the opinion which he read to the Houso were four in number. The first of these was as follows:— The Government cannot legally pay to officers of tho Public Servico salaries less or more than those fixed under tho Public Service Act without au over-riding Act. The answer to this pronouncement is simplicity itself. No one, or at any rate no responsible Minister, has expressed any opinion to the contrary; nor attempted to act in any manner contrary to such opinion. . Parliament, however, can, if it refuse to pass any vote on the Estimates. Such refusal will not stop tho payment of the vote in question, nor remove tho liability of tho Crown; but it enables Parliament to express its opinion of the vote. The Eecond conclusion reads: — That the mere voto of tlie House in Committee of Supply' cannot effectively niter tho salaries so fixed unless such vote is adopted by, or expressed in, legisla/tivo enactment. Here again there is no disagreement. The mere vote of the House, could not at any time alter salaries on the Estimates unless the Estimates as amended were included in tho Appropriation Act. The third conclusion of Sir Joseph Ward's legal advisers is that The Public Servico Act plainly contemplated that the aimual Estimates should be based strictly upon the salaries fixed under tho Act, and that such Estimates should no longer be based upon salaries fixed by tho Government. There hardly seems room for dispute even here, unless it is the use of tho word "strictly." But this does not better the case for' Sir Joseph Ward. He knows perfectly well that the Estimates now before tho House are subject to alteration by means of tho Supplementary Estimates.' He has been told half a dozen times at least during the past few days that the Supplementary Estimates will embody such changes as may be necessary as the result of the classification by tho Public Service Commissioners, ancl that before they are finally passed they will represent the Commissioners'' classification of salaries. Moreover, even if, technically, the Estimates should have been presented to Parliament by the Commissioners, that informality will be overcome by the inclusion of the Estimates as usual in tho Appropriation Act. It is interesting to note that on this point Mr. G. AV. Russell flatlv contradicts tho opinion expressed by his leader, and admits that the. Appropriation Act will clear the position up. As to the fourth conclusion of the legal gentlemen consulted by Sin Joseph Ward, viz., that

Legislation over-riding the Public Servico Act can, of course, bo passed in tho usual way,

this no doubt was thrown_ in as a make-weight. Parliament might have been spared the information that it has the power to pass legislation to amend the Acts it has already placed on the Statute Book., As a matter of fact, even if Sir Joseph-Ward's contention were fully admitted, _ it amounts to nothing more than this: that there has been a technical illegality in the procedure followed in connection with the Estimates. That technical illegality would be righted in tho ordinary course of events by the passing of the annual Appropriation Act. That is the case at its worst. But the othqr side to the question is that there has been no illegality at all; that the Estimates, as the "Attorney-General put it. merelv represent votes on account, and that the balance bringing the votes to the scale fixed by the Public Service Commissioners will be provided under the Supplementary Estimates. The question, in tbo circumatanocE, wis uot worth raising at

all. It is known to everyone that the Public Servico Commissioners are merely awaiting .the settlement of such appeals as may be made against their classification of the Servico before they anally forward their Estimates for the approval of Parliament, and that the" procedure which has been followed this year, ancl which was the most convenient from all points of view, will be simplified on future occasions when the provisions of the Act will be in full operation.