ORGANISATION AND EFFICIENCY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3138, 17 July 1917, Page 4

ORGANISATION AND EFFICIENCY

There appears to be a very general impression that the Government has failed to tako full advantage of the - valuable work of the Efficiency Board. This view has been strengthened by the attitude adopted by Sir Joseph Waei> in the House of Representatives last week when questioned as to the intentions of the Government regarding the Efficiency Board's reports and recommendations. The ActingLeader of the House seemed to resent the idea that the Efficiency Board's reports should be laid before Parliament and the country, and he conveyed the impression that he considered the Board was threatening to encroach on the prerogatives of tho Government. It was just as well, lie remarked, that tho House should understand that the Government was going to rule; and he added that if valuable rccom•mendations were made by the Efficicncy Board they would be placed before members. The Minister op Finance, of course, was ciuite sound in his view that the Government anil not the Efficiency Bokrd must rule, but wo venture to suggest that he and his colleagues are out cf touch with public sentiment if they imagine that their judgment will be accepted without question as to what is valuable in matters affecting National organisation and efficiency. When tho Acting-Leader of tho House stated that valuable recommendations of the Efficiency Board would be placed before members, ho implied that only those recommendations which the Government considered valuablo would ho jaado public.- Possibly, this wa-s nob

'what Sir Joseph Wajsd meant to convey. Wo hope not. The National Government can lay claim to credit for a good deal of useful work along orthodox lines, but it has lagged far behind public opinion on many questions which involved departure from tho custom and precedent of peace times. Almost every step it has taken in the direction of promoting national efficiency—they have been' few enough—has been the result of outside pressure; and as to tho organisation, of ,our available labour with a view to using it to tho best advantage, anything of this Jiaturo has been chiefly conspicuous for its abscnco. What tho public would now like to know is whether tho .Government has neglected to take advantage of the labours of the Efficiency Board, and if so, why? The Board, which is composed of men _of recognised capacity, and admirably suited for the task allotted them, has now been at work for some months, and from tho occasional glimpses behind the scenes which have been given the 'public it would seem to,have been engaged on investigations which should be productive of valuable results. It is known that it has presented reports and recommendations to tho Government on a number of questions of .importance, and as stated the suspicion exists that Ministers prefer to ignore them and drift along in a haphazard fashion rather than face tho responsibility of instituting the changes involved in giving effect to the Board's proposals. It is possible that this suspicion does Ministers injustice. In that casei it is an easy matter for Ministers to clear themselves. They have only to lay the reports and recommendations of the Efficiency Board before Parliament, omitting, of course, anything of a nature likely to pr.ovo useful to the enemy. We can quito believe that there may bo information of a confidential nature which it is undesirable to publish broadcast, but broadly speaking the recommendations of tho Efficiency Board should be public property. They aro intended to be of national service ; they should havo an educational value in bringing homo to tho people what is expected of them and how they can assist to promote national efficiency, and, above all, their publication should serve to act as a very neoessary spur to tho Government.