The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1915. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 23, 25 September 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1915. THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

■, :i » The need or greater economy in the Public Sevviee, as well as' in other directions',,, is’ trenchantly deidtf with rby :fche bjiristclmrcli Ptess, which' ventures .to suggest that Parliament; in the - opinion of a very large section of the public, ought,not. to separate with-out-taking soine practical- Steps- to' reduce the Departmental expenditure in this .bUreaucracy-ridtVen ’little country.j The Minister for Finance has made demand for an additional two millions sterling of taxation and has indicated in the plainest terms', that this is not likely to, be the limit of the demand on the people of this Dominion.-- We can. hardly dare hope that it may be, in view of the seriousness of the situation and the. tremendous burden Britain is now carrying. The Press says it had hoped that a National Government, in these circumstances, would have recognised the need of substantial retrenchment in the expenditure, but so far it has failed to take the matter in hand with the, firmness and determination urgently demanded by the circumstances of the qise. It is therefore now "the duty of Parliament to give the Government a lead in this matter. As many people will agree there is little justification for keeping up the Tourist Department as a separate Department of State, with an under-secretary, chief clerk, and so forth, and with expensive offices, each with a separate staff, all over New Zealand, and the southern journal considers that the tourist business might well be run as a branch of the Railway Service. It is also suggested that the-Public Health Department should he overhauled and remodelled on mo're economic lines, and the utility of keeping a qualified medical man in each centre for the purpose of compiling returns and occasionally giving instructions as to the isolation of cases of infectious disease or the disinfection of dwellings, is questioned. Proceeding on these lines the journal quoted says:—“The present arrangements for safeguarding the health of the people are not only uneconomical but anomalous and inefficient. If we are to have a Health Department at all, one would surely have imagined that one of its chief filiations would he to conduct the medical inspection of schools. The safeguarding of the health of the children lies at the foundation of securing the health of the community, and we venture to say is one of the most important duties the Stale can iindeitake. The Health Department, however, has nothing whatever to do with the medical inspection of schools, which is placet! under the control of the Education Department. Now it is suggested that the physical instruction of the children should he placed under the control of a medical director. In our opinion this is entirely unnecessary. The medical inspection of schools and physical education of the children are works of the highest importance, and should he extended rather than curtailed. Hut we: entirely fail to see the utility of the Health Department as it is run at pre-

seat.” Another Department in which economy could ho effected is the Government Printing Department, . and while not in any way finding fault with its administration, it is quite fairly stated that tons of Parliamentary papers are printed every year at a huge expense, and scarcely, anybody takes the trouble to read them, or would be very much the better or wiser if they did. There are doubtless many other directions in which expenditure might be curtailed without inflicting hardship or in any way impairing the efficiency of really useful public services.