THE PUBLIC SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2187, 27 June 1914, Page 6

THE PUBLIC SERVICE

QUESTION OF APPEALS A STRONC REPLY TO SIR J. C. WARD. SIR JOSEPH WARD moved the first reading of 'the. 1 Public; Service. Amendment Bill. He followed the' very unusual course, however, of explaining the Bill. He declared that 1 the Givil< Service was now very much alarmed lost their right, of appeal, which was threstcned by th' 6 action'of the Commissioners, should. bo taken aivay from them. Tho recent decision of Sir.Robert Stoiitwasiiot being'giyeu effect to, and funds were being subscribed by officers in the Service to go on with, the case further. Mr. Massey: Isn't nil'this sub judice r . Sir Joseph Ward: Sub judice! When the decision has hecw given?. Mr." Massey. It is going to tho Court-of Appeal; isn't it? (Laughter.) . ' ■ ... Sir Joseph Ward: But it hasn't gone. Tho Commissioners, he maintained, were an independent, created,autocracy and they could not be controlled by any authority except the Courts of the land. Legislation was required to amend this very- -undesirablo . state, of, .affairs. At tho present timo tho decision of. the Chief Justice, was not being given ef r feet, to, and public servants were not being given their right of appeal—the right of appeal which it was ■ certainly the intention of Parliament to give them when tho law was passed. Tho result was discontent in all branches of the Service right through New Zealand. He was proceeding with the Bill in' order to do justice -to the Public -Servico. ■ :■•.; ' '• Mr. Anderson: To get votes. Sir. .Joseph jWard: To . remove ■•■■ the members \'oi the Civil Service from the cruel position in which they wero now placed. He proposed, ho said, that it should be made, obligatory upon tho Commissioners to publicly advertise all vacancies. At present 'the Commis-. sicners were robbing the Service of the' right of appeal by refusing to advertise! tho vacant-position's.' 'His-own-opinion; was that citso .should novel! have been allowed to )gjf to 4 the Courts'! Tho Public Servants we're entitled to a generous interpretation of the law. He thought also that all members of the Service, going /before tho 'Appeal Board should !be allowed to be represented bi a solicitor'/- Every man/ , ,should hsivc the opportunity to perusb every communication oonceniinc; himself held; by the Commissioners before ho went'before tho Court oi' Appeal. Ho.should have the opportunity ' "of perusing 1 the ami'.ial renovt as to his character. Public Servants at present had strong reasons for a valid complaint. OTHER SIDE OF PICTURE'. MINISTER'S REPLY.' ( The Hon. A. L.'hERDMAN"' (Attor-ney-General) said that, it was surprising what contradictory reports thero were about the Public Service. , The lion, member had said that tho Public Service was fijll of discontent. Ho (Mr. -lierdman) heard • reports : from other sources'to tho, effect, that: .the Public Service was'never bettr'r'satisfied than it had'boon under'-the present Administration. (Applause.) The lion, member had said that Parliament had no control 'over tho Public Service Commissioner. That was iiot a fact. It was in tlio power of Parliament to submit a resolution to-morrow, and tho Commissioners could be removed from office. .Parliament was master of tho Public Service Commissioner and his assistants. The power tho Minister possessed in days gone by, of making promotion aiid dismissals was taken away. Nevertheless the people's representatives had complete control of the Public Service ■ Commissioner and thero was no reas.on.. why, . if... they, so desired, ho could not be removed to-morrow. It was one of the most democratic measures ever placed on the statute. He asked the non. gentleman was he prepared to repeal tbo Public Service Act ? If he wis desirous of doing so, ther. it followed that all the advantages which tho Public J Service had got must also :bo taken away. Let the public servants in New Zoaiand understand thaf'the Loader 1 of the pppositiou and tho F>i rt .V behind him, in desiring to repeal the Public Service Act, must also take away the privileges and .advantages which . the Commissioner had given' since he had control of the Service. Tha, Court's Decision; - Passing away froni that for a moment, lie desired to deal with the judgment of the Court. Sir Robert. .Stout declared that the Section denliiiu with the

right of appeal had given a most liberal right of appeal to public servants. It followed that it would bo tho bouiiden duty of the Commissioner'to give effect to tlio laws. There had beeiiiiio intimation of any appeal. Ho had stated at the second reading of tho Bill that ho believed tho public servants should have a. liberal right of appeal, and it was his intention that they should be given it. No rights they now had under tho right of appeal should 1)0 taken away. Had the public servants in New Zealand tho right of appeal when the hon. gentleman in Opposition was in power? Nsver. Who gave them the right of appeal from the decisions of their- employers?. The present Government. When the right hon. gentleman was in, power he had been very strict. No right of appeal was given by him. Ho thought that if the Public Service- Act was repealed it would take away from the public servants their right. Had-the hon. gentleman read tho:Act? He said the public servant had no right of appeal. Was ho misleading the public?. Section o2 provided that the men had a right of appeal. How was the Public Service Appeal Board constituted? Two were appointed by the Government, and tho third by the'parsons to be tried. No fairer constitution could bo instituted. ' No Discontent. .Apart ;from that he wanted, to _ show that tho statement made about discon--tent by' the hon. gentleman was not founded on. fact. Tlio Post and Telegraph' employees, 'in their journal the "Katipo," said that they were perfectly .satisfied with the ■commissioners; i'The whole article was'a demonstration-that the-control of the commissioners had bipen to'the advantage, of the Service. .. Parliament ivas concerned with tho public, and they had to 'sec that the-public of New Zealand was .supplied with a good;' Public Service. Their second consideration was to sec that tho Public Servants' woro treated fairly, -Never before had they had the satti'e , advantages'. : Dealing with advantages secured to the public by the Act, the Attorney-General said that it secured co-operation, between v.ie Departments ; a greater efficiency was secured ; it enabled rapid discovery of points of deficiency; it gave an equal opportunity to all to enter the Public Service; and it created' a healthy, rivalry between' officers throughout the Service. Dealing with some of the advantages the- l'nblic Servants enjoyed, ho said' that it provided a maximum salary of £100 to all officers' who had reached the ago of twenty-one. That never existed beforo. Tho Act gave considerable improvements by the levelling up of salaries of low-paid officers. That was never done by the Administration'jn powcrbefore. There wis also tho-long-service ' increment; special concessions as regarded holihays; special concessions to officers who had passed certain examinations; and olficers had tho right of appeal. That applied to .the ordinary division. Ho wanted to deal with tho Telegraph advantages. ',' Sir Joseph Ward:. you reading from tho Public Service Commissioner's report this year? Mr. Herdman: No; I am reading from notes I have got. Proceeding, Mr. Herdman said that the maximum salary of lotter-carriers, sorters and lines, men ha'd been raised to a maximum of £220. No doubt that would be taken away by tho Opposition if they repealed. the Act. One hundred and ninoty-ono c!»rks and postmasters /had been promoted to £230, 'and there were other advantages which ho would not go into. Ho wished to say, in connection with tho whole Service, that when the Act came into operation in the month of November. 1912 (part ,of it), and tho' whole provisions in April, 1913, the task which the Public Service Commissioner and his two • assistants had Lad since then had ■been great. They had taken the whole of the Service and placed it under tho proper control of persons who were experts. What took place under the previous Administration? An attempt was made to classify the Public Service, and it took them four or 'five years to do it. What happened? Ono thousand seven hundred officers gave notice to dppeal. ••-.•■ ' •" " ' ■ Who are the Malcontents? That classification, whicll extended over, four or five years,' was of the general 'service only. What had happened in tho present case? Tho classification brought but since..November,■ 1912, a period under two years, had classified J 1,000 person's. Ho thought that about 3[400 appealed from the general, and 380 from tlio Post and Tclcgnph. That was something they might well be proud of. Continuing, Mr. Herdnian- said:' "My belief is that if any discontent is existing in the Public Service to-day it is discontent of old supporters of tho Oppasition; that this discontent has been studiously and steadily fanned by the gentlemen sitting on tho opposite sido of the House. From tho time .tho Act came into operation every effort has been mado by Sir Joseph Ward and those on his sido to keep the Public Service in a ferment. I believo there are men in the Public Service who have ability, and who are content with tho administration of the Act, and they will support the scheme, despite the criticism and attacks mado upon it by tlio gentlemen on tho other side of the House. (Applause.) A False Alarm. SIR JOSEPH WAItD, in reply, characterised Mr. Hcrdnian's line of argument as contemptible. Tho Minister had said that thoso members of the Civil Service who were discontented wero friends of tlio Opposition. If that were so, then"SJcT per cent, of the public servants must -bo friends of tho Opposition. He had never entered the office of a single Department of the Public Service. sihd*~ ho left office, nor had he ever at any time asked for the support of any member of tho Public Service. Ho repudiated with contempt and scorn tho suggestion made by the AttorneyGeneral. It wns not ■■■true that there was no Appeal Board in the Public Service before the passing of the Civil Service Aot. Tni<s was not coirect, as there was an Appeal Board, before winch there had been 17U0 appeals. Mr. JMussey: Those were appeals nfainst classification only. "Sir .Joseph Ward maintained that it was not correct to say that there had l»-(.i\ no Appeal -Board before tho passim' of the I'ubliti Service Act; Ho declared that every time it had been proposed in the past to- improve tho lot of the Civil Service, Mr. Herdman had risen and mado a scries of speeches against the dangerous' increase of cxpmidituref .If the Act was so _ good, why were not. all the other Civil Servants and all tho railway servants brought under tho scote of the Act

and given the samo good tilings ? Tlio fact was, however, that ihese other branches of the Sen-ice thought they wore better out-side the seopo of the Act. Mr. Massey: -Will you repeal tho Act:- , Sir Joseph Ward: I would amend tho Act to bring the system- under Ministerial control. In Australia, ho continued, they were proposing to do away with Commissioner control of tho railways, and proposing to put them under Ministerial control. He would introduce the Bill and call divisions upon some of "the important proposals in it. Ho was satisfied tho Public Scr-, vice, were very much discontented about tho working of the Act. Members of tho Service were subscribing funds to defend the decision of tho Chief Justice on appeal. Mr. Lee: They'll set their monoy back. . , Sir Joseph Ward: What do you mean? Mr. Lee: Th-sro will bo no appeal. Sir Joseph Ward was apparently' surprised to learn that the AttorneyGeneral had said there was to bo no appeal. But the fact that Mr. Herdmand had been able to mako this statement showed that tho Commissioners were under tho contwl of the AttorneyGeneral. Mr. Herdman: Nothing of the sort. Tho Public Service Commissioner told mo he was not going to appeal. Sir Joseph Ward: When did lie tell you? He told the hon. gentleman after I gave notice of tlie introduction of this Bill. This Mr. Herdman stated was not the fact. Tho Bill was read a first time. PRIVATE MEMBERS' BILLS. Tho Hokomu County Bill (Mr. G. J. Anderson), tho Fire Inquests Bill (Mr. T. K. Sidey), the Railway Improved Lands Bill (Mr. R, M'Callum) wore introduced and read a first time.