BY MERIT

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 283, 24 August 1920, Page 6

BY MERIT

PROMOTION IN THE P. AND T. DEPARTMENT IMPRESSIONS OF MEMBER OF APPEAL BOARD Mr. E. 0. Cutton, Benior B.M. in Auckland, was recently appointed a. member of the Post and Telegraph Department s Appeal Board, a, body that'is called upon to do a great doal of important work aurliis the year. Being of the opinion that it would be interesting to hear Mr. Cutten s Impreßslonfl to the Appeal Board ana how it does Its work, ho was approached by a DOMINION reporter. "My first impression," said "was one. of Intense interest, bveryone knows tho Post and Telegraph Office bullainc, Its doorway and the counter. But a peep behind the scenes of such an important Department of State, an institution with which the very life of the' community is bound up, whose ramifications extend to every, ltttlc part of the Dominion, and whow employees number 10,CCOt hat was a revelation. A pleasing Impression is left upon my mind at the conclusion of my first sitting of the board of the judicial way in which the representative members approached each officer. There was no shade of bias in favour of the aides they represented, but a clear recognition that .the slightest linduo leanlna In favour of the officer im-. plied an injustice to another. "The sporting and kindly feeling between rival aspirants for a position was a very pleasing feature. Ono appellant told a friend with whom ho waß staviii" that he was going to give him a Bpin for a coveted apDolntment. The reply was, 'Well, good luck to- you.' '■ Two young Boldiers, with the air of the trenches still about them, after hearing all that was put before the board decided their own case. 'We chifys are. on the twist. Tho' exact meaning to be ! given to this statement as evidence in the caso gave the board some concern, but it was eventually taken as an admission. The prevalence of really good reports upon thei officers who came beforo the board, and their demeanour created a very favourable im. pression, and sugeCßted high efficiency. Some even plainly showed fair qunlificationß for other vocations in life. "It 1b not uncommonly thought that promotion in tho Oivil Service is by seniority. The Post and .Telegraph Act, 1918, specially states that trombtion is to be given to the officer beßt entitled by merit to the appointment. A .recommendation by the Promotion Board is the decidins factor. The Socretary, the heads of the three great'branches of the Beuvicc, and an elected member representing the interests of the officers, form tho beard Any applicant for a position may appeal against an appointment made on the recommendation of the Promotion Board, and these appeals come before the Appeal Board, The' system of promotion by merit is very far-reachine' in its effects. It is thoroughly democratic. Under it anyone may advance by merit alone from the lowest to tho highest'vostti in the service. It is equally of advantage to the Department for everyone in its servlco knows that his advancement depenm entirely upon himßelf, and efforts mado in the first place for tho. pureh- selfish object of personal advaucojiont lead eventually to a keen interest in the.work for its own sake, and this is the road to the highest efficiency. A system of such obvious advantage to tho efflcera and to tho Department iB worthy of ei'tport, and it certainly merits tho exerciso of a littlo patience on the one side und of extreme care on the other to help tide it over tho transition stage. There, is a tendency amone those whoi are not at pneent wholly pleased to lay overmuch stress upon the difficulty of setting the system ot reporting upon officers cuite csAperfect as it should be all at once. That is not the real difficulty In rurturins; the new system through, its period- of infancy. Every change must hurt some one. Tboeu who would have gained advancement by soniorlty, and now see juniorß with more merit paBS over them quite naturally foil hurt. As all expressed themselves favour ablo to the merit system these officers cannot well mako their complain against the system, so the method of reporting bocomes a convenient outlet for voicing hurt feelings. Admittedly it is difficult to got the reportin? system 1 perfect all at once, but it is now subject to some excellent checks, namely, the inspectors' reports, the movement of officers, and' tho fact that each applicant would almost certainly be known personally to some one member of the Promotion Board. These checks and the right of appeal should make the system now as fair as could reasonably be'expected and worthy of support. An extension of the si-stem of inspectors' reports and a conference of senior reporting officers to enable thorn to co-ordinate their methods should leave no grounds of complaint. It is obvious that only a very small proportion or mvieals against appointments made on the recommendation \of the Promotion Board constituted as that board is should he successful, and when things have shaken down the percentage should be still smaller,

There seems to be a • tendency on the part of many officers to ' claim a much wider right of appeal than.they have enjoyed in the past. A little consideration will show that to be impracticable. A right of appeal aeainst non-promotion and in respect of Dlace, and salary on the preparation of each classification list surely eives as good a safeguard of each officer's rights as is practicable. Admitting that theoretically everything which affects an officer Bhould be/subject to the check of appeal it is obviouß that thiil could nqt bo eiven effect to. It is possible to over-refine almost anything. Tho Secretary must manage the Department, and if a wide range of his activities aro subject to tho check of appeal it will attain no good object, will greatly impair tho efficiency of the Department, <iud it will overwhelm the Appeal Board, .and bring down the whole system.".