PUBLIC SERVICE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 191, 6 April 1932, Page 6

PUBLIC SERVICE

H. J.

HARDIE.

(To the Editor.j Sir, — Your lead'ng article in Monday's post while stating the general position with regard to the Civil Servant, calls for some further explanation, which we would like to make. So far as the number of Civil Servants falling into the various groups are concerned, you have correctly interpreted the figures and they are qu'te correct. Accepting these figures as correct, it is surely obvious, that a very large percentage of the State's employees are not in a position to accept further wage reductions until the costs of living have fallen so as to restore the purchasing power of wages. While some sections of the State's activities depend largely on borrowed money, a great many others, social, trading and administrative are only affected to a small extent by the same cause, and are more dependent on the growth of the population. Our proposal re borrowed money was not a continuation of the year-to-year borrowing, which has prevailed for many years, but borrowing at a tapering rate. Instead of borrowing £6,000,000 we suggest that the Government borrow £4,000,000 this year, and say £2,000,000 next year, and nothing in subsequent years unless for work of a definitely productive nature. If the amount of money proposed to be borrowed as above were used to supply the required materials and the £3,000,000 per annum from the Unemployment Funds were used to supply the labour it should be possible to put through land-development schemes along the lines proposed by Mr Jackson or Mr. Valder which would make a very material reduction in the number of unemployed and make them self-supporting, and also increase tha quantity of goods available for export.

A reduction in the amount of money required for unemployment w'th, on the other hand, increased revenue from exports, would go a long way to solve the present financial diffieulties. Costs and wages have risen to their present level over a lengthy period, and whiL there ara bound to be difi'erences of opinion as to those who are •)est able to shoulder the burden, we I'onsider that we are not unreasonable in proposing that, in fairness to tha great bulk of the C'vil S.rvant, who on to-day's costs are receiving only a living wage that the State should arrange for finance over a reasonable period to enable costs to adjust themselves to the lower leval of wages. Our views in this direction are supported by the following statenient belng part of an interview with Mr. G. W. Hutchinson, Mayor of Auckland, and a prominent cTty ac•.■ountant, published in tha Herald of April 5. "I concur in the opinion, generally held, that public indebtedness is too .teavy, and that borrowing should be tatfered off until stai^ding. charges oear a more satisfactory relation to public revenue, but the sudden cessation of borrow'ng must intensify adv^rse conditions in the labour market." In conclusion, let us quote from Tuesday's Post the lasf paragraph of • ;he article "True Economy and False."

"A new Government pladged to iConomy, and necessarily acting in x hurry, is more likaly to note a small exp^nditure which can easily oe cut out than the benefit arising from it. In many countres the first order of tha day is retrenchment, and many services which the world cait ill afford to lose are in jeopardy. There is n.ed for perpetual vigilance on the part of private individuals, and of fche voluntary institutions which they 'nfluence, to see that the ameliora;ive work which civilisation demands is not destroyed in the praiseworthy, but not always discriminating effort to suppress waste. — I am, etc., On behalf of the Combined Public Service Organisat'on,

Rotorua, 5/4/32.