The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1916. PUBLIC SERVICE PROMOTIONS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2916, 31 October 1916, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1916. PUBLIC SERVICE PROMOTIONS

QifiBSTiOKS of fundamental importance in the; control and'management of tho Public Service were involved in a recent appeal against opposed promotion, .of, which some , particulars we to given in our news columns a few days aso. Tho facts ot.the case are simple, In May last two officers in tho,State Advances Department were selected by tho Public Trustee as suitable to nil more important positions in tho Department under his control. The permanent head of tie Advances Department, however; objected to the proposed transfers On tho ground that his objection stood in the way of the legitimate promotion of officers, the Public Service Association took the matter up and referred it in the first instance, ?l hout tfi e result desired, to the- Public Service Commissioner, and ultimately to the Appeal Board. The decision of this tribunal,was satisfactory. The appeal was- upheld. La , connection with the proceedings an opinion was furnished by the Solicitor-General which in all essentials endorses land justifies' the stand takfcn by 'the association. To anyone who takes the interest that should be general in the management of the Public bcrvice it must appear that this is a case which does not concern only, officers in that Service. 1 On tho contrary it raises most important issues of public interest. It is one ot the root principles of the reform embodied in the Public Service Act <" J? 1 ?.'by which commissioner control was-established, that the free transfer of officers from one Department, or branch, of the Service to another is essential to efficient a A" economical management The Solicitor-General has laid it t3. i(l is the ™6 hfc and duty oi. the Commissioner and of the Board of Appeal to take into coni sidotation not merely the interests ot tho officer concerned in any proposed transfer, but also the competing interests, if any, of the Crown. He, however, carefully limits consideration of the competing interests of the Crown in the remark, amongst others, that., speaking generally, an officer should be regarded as entitled of right to an appointment if he is suitable .tor it in respect of experience, *ii ■ l and characf *r, and if ho is the best of the applicants theretor. Me further observes that the board would be justified in requiring a strong case of unavoidable public inconvenience to be made out | before depriving an officer ■ of any substantial promotion to which ha would otherwise be entitled. Tho point being raised of a conflict between Crown interests and those of individual officers, the SolicitorCeneral very properly dealt with it, observing in the first instance .that the Public Service Act is silent on the point. But if he had bam formulating I a really comprehensive opinion on tho subject of promotions by transfer he would presumably have given chief prominence, not to the claim that competing interests of the Crown have to recognition, but to the very wid* powers conferred upon the Commissioner by the Public Service Act in po do , ubfc are cases which tho Crown has exceptional interests, at stake, as when questions arise of the transfer of highly specialised officers, to whose training the Crown has perhaps contributed in an important degree, to positions entailing the loss in whole or part of their skilled services. Such" cases must always present difficulties, but making allowance for cases of this kind, it is surely a matter of vastly greater importance that a general practice of freely transferring officers from one Department or branch of the Service to another should bo recognised as a normal feature of the management of the Service under commissioner control. This is an absolutely essential condition to efficient and economical working, and it is necessary also as a matter of common justice to public servants.

Full endorsation of these opinions will bo found in the report of 'the Public Servfce Commission, not the present controlling board, but the Commission which was appointed by tho | Mackenzie Government in 1012 to inquiro into and report upon the condition of tho Public Sasvica.. In their lejjflifk .which re.

eoivod widespread recognition as a most valuable and illuminating wenment, tho members of the Comimssian (Messrs. Hunt, Macintosh, and Babe) clearly described tno evils, rampant at the period of their inquiry, of every main Department, and even'every minor Department, trying to run its affairs as a distinct and separate concern, instead of each being d branch of ono large business. Their views are clearly expressed in the following oxtracfc from a finding in which they strongly urged the institution of methods and a procedure which, are made possible by the Public Service Act of 1913, and should, indeed, be an outstanding and dominating feature of its operation: The nest thin ff to do is to arrange for Tifu e ■n tr . a ,? sf >tweeu Departments, lie Public &omce should be treated as a whole and not as a number of separate watertight compartments, and officers of the Service should feel that they are. officers of tho Public Service as a whole, and not officers of special Departments only. If this were done, officers of ability would l'eel that they had the whole Service as a Bcope for their energies. When transfors aro being considered, great consideration should bo given to tho desire of tho head of a Department to obtain, an officer from another Department, provided it is supported by til© wish of the particular officer to make' tho change Under these circumstances very little consideration should be given to the head of a Department who is losing the partioular officer, for if, as is the case at present, the transfer is blocked by the head of the Department who will lose the officer refusing his sanction,' it will of ton rosnlt, as it does now, in the Public Servico losing the officer' altogether. W. lioad of a. Department will practically nover refuse to sanction the transfer o'E ono of his officers to another Department if the officer to bo transferred is of moderato or inferior ability. \lt is only when ho happens (o be an able and efficient -officer that the transfer is refused. This moans, as wo liavo said before, that an officer's promotion is being blocked on account of # his ability, wliieli should not bo permitted under any circumstances. The guiding'principle must bo that tho best man is to bo promoted to the best position regardless of the inconvenience of filling tho position ho is leaving.

All that the members of the Commission say in their finding has, of course, as definite a bearing upon the public interest as upon that of public servants. At bottom it is the principle- of promotion by merit that is involved, a principle which constitutes the only possible basis for an efficient and economically working Public Service.