The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1884. Civil Service Reform

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 75, 4 December 1884, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1884. Civil Service Reform

«. Of the three subjects which tbe Government prorr.Aed to give their a tlen lion to rWng the recess, Civil Servico Reform was one. As a beginning we learn that the hours of work of the officials in Wellington have been lengthened by half an hour and that all uumai- ed officers in the Treasury are to be dismissed forthwith, with the exception, we presume, of those who have powerful political or other influence to eilher keep ihein in their positions or secure them another appointment in a difit-vent department. It would be interesting to know whether those gem !e men who aye now engaged to be mav- ied, and who take unto them selves wives before tbe beginning of the tai ca. when tho new regulation comes into f.>-;e-j, will be allowed to retain tbeir poA lious. It is a now Iking to learn thtA. Government wok is only to be give-.; to married people, putting men of a defined social position on the' same level with the " unemployed " just as family men are put on wages and the single men are told to shift for them selves. The ChrisLcburch Press says : " This is not re lorn ; no reform is worth troubling about which does not go to the root of ihe matter by altering tho system of appointment and promotion. No reform can be com plete which does not abolish Minis terial patronage and sub-jtitiue f.»r it ibe impartial procedure of a nunpolilical organisation. Tho method of reducing the Departments, u,dop> ;d by the Ministry, moreover, is utterly indefensible. The unintc. Aed AtieAls aye to be turned ouL, and the married ones retained. From this it would seem that fitness is no consideration at all ; but that motives uf hum*<.nity are to prevail, and the Civil Service is to be Ireaied as a Sort of superior charitable institution. It is surely the strangest system of Civil Service reform ihat was ever heard of; aod the inevitable result of it will be to cause avast amount of discontent and illfoeling without really improving the administration or diminishing the public expenditure. But we do not fear its extending very far. Nothing is so unpopular at the seat of Government as Civil Service reform ; especially this sort; and we fancy the present Miuistryarenot inclined to make themselves unpopular if they can help it."