CIVIL SERVICE JUNIORS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 131, 29 November 1929, Page 10

CIVIL SERVICE JUNIORS

Apropos the question of Civil servants' pay, "Junior" puts in the following plea for general division juniors and messengers: "The position at present is this, the age limit for a messenger is 18, and the salary, at which they stop until promoted, is £57. When they are promoted they are advanced to £70 per annum, then by; annual1 increments to £83, £96, £109, £122, £148, £181, £194, £207, £220, £240. Since the minimum age for a junior is 16 years, it follows that he must be 26 years old before reaching the maximum wage, unless, of course, he receives a special increment (a thing that is heard of occasionally), or else fie is given a rise in a reclassification list,- or unless his increment is not granted because his report is not too good. This means that if he had been promoted when he was sixteen, and he had had the best of luck, the maximum salary would be reached when he was 23 or 24. Counting on one year in the messengers (perhaps fvo), this means an apprenticeship of seven or eight years. In the event of being unlucky and not receiving a special rise, it means ten years, or even more. Surely no one will deny the justness of the claim of the juniors to a better schedule. Another little thing: A certain official, when asked about the dismissal of a large number of men, replied that they were only casuals engaged digging post holes and cable trenches, and that the Department engaged and dismissed as many as 100 a month, but forgot to state that some had been employed for three or four years, and were working as linemen, etc., not just digging, as stated. There is evidently a 1 misstatement there. I hope this may attract a. little attention, and will make some people understand that the Government job -is