THE RETRENCHMENT SCHEME

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9461, 2 June 1909, Page 5

THE RETRENCHMENT SCHEME

Per Association. Wellington. June 1. Quite a number of Government employees "received three months’ notice i to-day. They are mostly clerks who have served less than five years., Dr. Valintine has been appointed Chief Health Officer in place of Dr. Mason. The Public Health Department will for a time at any rate consist of a Chief Health Officer, a limited number of District Health Officers, and a stray clerk and inspector here and there. , * The Electoral Department will be abolished, and the Analytical andGeological Survey Departmncs will he greatly reduced. fAs already stated, sweeping’reductions are contemplated in connection with the Tourist Department. 'The officers are to be removed to ihe new Public Trust Building, on Lambton Quay, and the business will be carried on in a much less pretentious manner-than hitherto. Most of the accommodation houses controlled by the Department will be leased, thus considerably decreasing the staff necessary for carrying on the work of the Department, and it is anticipated that at least half of thirty hands employed in the Wellington office will have notice to leave, besides which there will be ‘a general and extensive cutting down of staffs at the various“resorts throughput the country, with possibly the exception of Rotorua and Hanmer, and ; as possible some of the important resorts in the Lakes districts. The Labour Department has not yet been visbily affected, but, there •is trouble in the air, and a curtailment of staffs is expected daily.