New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4963, 17 February 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1877.

The colony having successfully passed through a bloodless but severely contested political revolution, it is to be hoped that the time formerly occupied by our legislators during the sittings of Parliament may be applied to the amendment of many evils which not even the abolition of provincialism has remedied, and which urgently require attention. It has been too much the fashion during the last few sessions of our House of Representatives for members to embroil themselves so hotly in the different and exciting questions of policy which have of late years engaged the attention of our readers and fellow-colonists as to make them indifferent to the claims of minor questions, of perhaps in the end even equal or may bo greater importance than those which have been awarded the greatest amount of debate. Provincialism being a thing of the past, and the Public Works policy going steadily forward, the next session of Parliament should be devoted to the really necessary and utilitarian task of reorganising the present system of departmental administration, which is at the present moment anything but what it ought to be. Our ex-Governor, Sir George Bowen, the other day, in the course of some remarks made by him on

the occasion of a school ?,speech-day in Melbourne, referred to theivicious system of public patronage in vogue in Victoria,, and, he might have added, throughout the Australasian colonies generally. .rsSirl George is a shrewd observer, and inajgne[ his propensity to talk too often and too: long at public dinners, he frequently' gives us a good lay sermon on matters of colonial policy. He pointed out that owing to the pressure brought to bear upon the Ministers of the day, in whose hands the patronage of the public service rests, it is almost impossible for those in office to make merit the real stepping-stone to an appointment in the Civil Service of any of the colonies. When a vacancy occurs in the public service how rarely do we see either ability or length of service recognised in the choice of a fitting occupant 1 Are such vacancies, if the salary is at all good, not invariably filled up by men who by virtue of their power to interest an influential friend or two manage to so obscure the vision of the Minister, in whose hands the patronage lies, to the too often palpable defects of the successful’candidate of influential surroundings as to cause .him. to . select the incompetent, the unworthy, and the undeserving, to the exclusion of those who, possessing all the qualifications the successful one lacks, naturally look upon themselves as injured individuals 1 A Minister may have every wish to fill the appointment as his conscience dictates, but it is in nine cases out of ten impossible for one so placed to indulge in the luxury of so conscientious an action as the appointment , of the right man to the right place in the public service. In Victoria the system of Government patronage has been for years shamefully abused; not so much because Ministers were downright dishonest or corrupt, but simply because they frequently, during the discussion of questions of vital importance, found themselves constrained either to bestow an appointment on one with no real claim to it, or to lose the votes of his friends at a close pinch. Of course it is very wrong to give away an appointment to oblige importunate members, but it would be much worse to throw the country into the confusion of a Ministerial defeat over such an unworthy obstacle. As Sir George remarks, it would be a step in the right direction to remove the patronage from out of the hands of Ministers into those of a properly constituted Board of Examiners, whose guiding principle would be, cwteris paribus, not the relationship of the candidates to persons of political, influence, but the possession of ability and other requisite qualities befitting them for the work of the Civil Service. Such a Board would leave Ministers free to devote more of their time and energies to the duties of their various offices than is possible under present circumstances, and would entirely do away with the pernicious system of buying votes by an unwise exercise of patronage during the sitting of Parliament. In England the system of competitive examination has clone much good, and has secured to the service of the country the powers of the best men of the day. It has been objected that the system of competitive examination has called into existence an evil of some magnitude, and which’is known to our teachers of youth and their scholars as that of “ cramming” .candidates for examination with, just those subjects, or rather a synopsis of them, as they are likely to be questioned upon, instead of imparting to them a really sound and lasting knowledge of the topics upon which the . are examined. •Doubtless “ cramming” is an evil,. but it is not one of such magnitude as the opponents to the system of competitive examination would fain have us believe, nor is it one incapable of cure. Wo have a system of Civil Service examination in vogue in this colony, but it is a very crude attempt at purifying the sources of our supply of civil servants, as there is no guarantee to a successful candidate for admission to the Government service that on passing, a good examination he will get the first fitting vacancy; or that, having got it, he will gain promotion, as it should come to him under a better state of things. The chances are, that if he be without influence he’ will'Uot get an appointment at all, or having got it, that he will be passed over in the matter of promotion so often and so gallingly that he will curse the service, ..and either quit it in disgust, or do his duties in the most perfunctory and slipshod manner. Th 4 thoughtful portion of the people of New Zealand have long seen with dissatisfaction the magnitude of the evil of Civil Service appointments and management during the last ten or twelve years here, and would view with unfeigned pleasure any really intelligent and effective attempt at inaugurating a better state of things. Ministerscouldappeal tobothsides of the Houseforsupport fearlessly on such a subject, and would earn the undying respect of all classes if they voluntarily gave up the right of patronage, and placed it in the hands of a properly-constituted Board, whose members were both free from being influenced by either those in officeorthoseoutofit.' It has been said that New Zealand is governed by its civil servants, and it is not hard to believe that so numerous a body do , exercise no inconsiderable amount of influence in the administration of affairs, and that is another and very strong reason why Ministers should be freed from such un-’ desirable influences. So long as things remain as they are any attempt at reorganising the Civil Service of the colony must share the fate of previous efforts in the same direction, and lead to no real good. We could wish that Sir George Bowen’s admirable remarks to the boys of the Church of England Grammar School in Melbourne, on the last speech-day of that institution, should be read by every member of our Parliament, and that they should give them the attention theyr.deserve, and the colony the unmistakeable boon they so clearly define and recommend for adoption, not only I?y, the people of Victoria but of all the other neighboring colonies.