The Men “Behind the Guns” in Politics

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 780, 28 September 1929, Page 19

The Men “Behind the Guns” in Politics

(Written for THE SUN by

MAX P. WHATMAN.)

* 2 ~‘ —-- —| s 'E*ATH tile floor i 9 IfiSßslgggs y j o£ the Parliament ! J I I n Buildings in Wei- ; I p B -a | lington are miles I R ■ £ | connecting the rei al } motest offices and it. =j B °IJ lounges by an extensive house tele- ,, phone system, fjany of these wires cz-oss the road to the old Government Buildings so that.

Ministers may be in touch with the heads of their departments in the administrative block. For Ministers may come and go but departmental heads go on, if not for ever, for a very long time indeed, as service records show. These officers are, of course, thoroughly familiar with the affairs of their departments and a Minister must necessarily rely on them implicitly. In the not so distant past the Dominion’s statesmen were lauded as the pioneers of the world's most progres-

sive legislation. These eulogies, it is generally admitted, were deserved, but rarely has praise been lavished on the men whose task it has been to organise anu perfect the working of revolutionary changes, frequently m the face of opposition. A shrinking from publicity lias usually been a characteristic of departmental heads and, so quietly and unostentatiously is their work carried out their very names are unknown to many of those for whom they work. There are 51 departments dealing with the Dbminion’s affairs and each has its permanent head, men whose knowledge is as greatly specialised as that of the executives of any private enterprise. Their headquarters are m Wellington whence, by the aid of effici ent organisation, they control the activities of their departments which, in some cases, extend from the Noith Cape to the Bluff. Few of these men have attained their positions other than by working up through the lower grades of the service but, in the mam, they are comparatively > ouug. AS Clerk of the Cabinet and Permanent Head of the Prime Ministers Department, Mr. F. D. Thomson B.A C M G has been in the confidence ot th” Dominion’s statesmen for many ..pars. He was brought up m a parlia inentary atmosphere as his father was Se late Mr. A. B. Thomson of the Parliamentary Library. Air Thomson was educated at V ictoria' College, Wellington, completing hte B.A. in 1901. He was assistant secretary to the late Rt. Hon. Richard John Seddon through the stirring Jeara preceding that great Premiers

' death. He was then secretary to the Hon. J. A. Millar and Sir Joseph Ward. For many years, Mr. Thomson was in close association with the late Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey, accompanying him to all Imperial and Economic Conferences. Commodore G. T. C. P. Swabey, D. 5.0., has just concluded his three years’ term in command of the N.Z. Division of the Royal Navy. He has been a popular and a hard-

worked officer during that time. With a comparatively small force such as the New Zealand Squadron, in which elaborate staff organisation is neither necessary nor possible, the senior naval officer's responsibilities are three-fold. As first naval member of tile New Zealand Naval Board, ho is in charge of the whole naval defence of the Dominion including, as well as the sea-going ships, training organisations such as H.M.S. Philomel and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve which

has now been extended to the four main centres. Afloat, he commands the squadron and is also commanding officer of the flagship, H.M.S. Dunedin. Incidentally it was through the assistance of Commodore A. F. Beale, senior naval officer, 1923-26, that the R.N.V.R. was established in New Zealand.

The new Naval chief is Commodore Geoffrey Blake, D.S.O. His previous ap-1 pointment was as chief of staff toAdmiral of tile Fleet Sir Hubert Brand, commanding the 'Atlantic Fleet. .

The Dominion’s Director-General of Health, Dr. I'. H. A. Valintine, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.H., C.B.E. (military), has been 27 years in the Health Department, rising to his present position step by step. Dr. Valintine was born in Goodwood, Sussex, in 1565 and educated at Marlborough College and “Barts,” London. After a period as house-surgeon at both the Bedford and Royal West Sussex Hos pitals, and as resident medical officer at Milton Asylum, Portsmouth, he came to the Dominion in IS9O and practised his profession until 1902 when he took the position of Assistant Chief Health Officer at the initiation of the Department of Public He 'th. Dr. Valintine’s department comprises divisions of public hygiene, hospitals, nursing, school hygiene, child welfare and Maori hygiene each of which is under the control of a director. For purposes of local administration the country is divided into health districts under the charge of a medical officer of health who must be a medical practitioner with special qualifications. 11l addition to being charged with the administration of the Health Act, the Depart lent controls the registration of doctors, nurses, masseurs and plumbers. It supervises the sale of food and drugs, and protects the public against exploitation by fraud in connection with alleged remedies. Cemeteries and crematoria also come within its control.

Major-General R. Young, C. 8., C.M.G., D. 5.0., General Officer com-

manding the New Zealand forces, was, before the war, a dentist practising at Marton. Though English-born, he was educated at Nelson College. The G.O.C. has always been interested in the volunteer service and, when war was declared, he left with the Main Body as a major in the Canterbury Regiment. Promotion came speedily and in 1915 he was gazetted a brigadiergeneral and placed in command of the Third (N.Z.) Rifle Brigade. He has been an honorary A.D.C. to his Excellency, the Governor-General since 1920.

Another departmental head with a deep interest in the army is Mr. A. Fair, K.C., L. 8.8., Solicitor-General. Mr. Fair, who is only 44 years old, served through the whole period of the war as a captain in the Suffolk Regiment, winning the Military Cross. He is a joint compiler of "The -History of the l/sth Battalion, Suffolk Regiment.” After a brilliant career at Victoria University College, Wellington, in the course of which he was Constance Barnicoat essayist, Mr. Fair entered the office of the late Sir Charles Skerrett in 1907 after being admitted as a barrister and solicitor.

P.W.D. head office draughting room before going out on road survey. Between 1897 and his’ appointment to an executive position as Otago dis trict engineer in 1908, Mr. Furkert was engaged on the following big undertakings: Greymouth-Hokitika rail-

More than 34 years as a veterinary expert have stood Dr. C. J. Reakes, C.8.E., in good stead in bis position as Director-General of Agriculture. He is a Kentishman and entered the Royal Veterinary College, London, in ISS9 after two years as a farm pupil in North-West Canada. After winning tile Coleman Prize Medal, he went into private practice as a veterinary surgeon at Orpington, Kent, until 1897, when he entered the service of the New Zealand Government as veterinarian. In 1908 ho was appointed director of veterinary services. Spectacular enterprises lie within the province of Mr. F. W. Furkert, Under-Secretary and Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department. Mr. Furkert received his education in New Zealand, leaving the Otago University in 1897 to spend a few months in the

way; midland railway, Otira section; North Island main trunk, Rimutaka : deviation and southern end of the line; : railway from Stratford inland; rail- \ way to tap mineral deposits on Mount Egmont. Fifty-five years’ service in various departments stand to the credit of Mr. G. F. C. Campbell, C.M.G., Controller and Auditor-General. After completing his education at Nelson College. Mr. Campbell entered the government; service as a cadet in the Public Works I Department in 1574. Terms in the Justice and Land Tax Department! followed and in 1594 he was made '■ Deputy Commissioner of Taxes. i Responsible for the publication of i numerous mathematical, astronomical j and seismological papers -and possess- j

ing a reputation extending far beyond 1 the Dominion, Dr. Charles Edward j Adams controls the Hector Observa- j tory at Wellington as Government Seismologist and Astronomer. Dr. Adams is a New Zealander, born at Lawrence, Otago, in 1870. Among the honours gained by him are: D.Sc. (N.Z. 1916), President of the New Zealand Astronomical Society, Martin Kellogg Fellow of Astronomy of the Lick Observatory, California, U.S.A., j Associate in Astronomy of the Yale : University and a Fellow of the Royal ! Astronomical Society, London. As a result of the reorganisation of |

the New Zealand Meteorological Office in 1927, Dr. E. Kidson, M.A., D.Sc., 0.8. E., was appointed meteorological director, resigning his position as director of the Australian meteorological bureau to accept the new office. Dr. Kidson was educated in New Zealand winning honours at Canterbury College. In 1908 he joined the staff of the Carnegie Institute at Washington and worked for six years on magnetic surveys in South America, Newfoundland and Australia. During the war. Dr. Kidson was mentioned in despatches and awarded the 0.8. E.

for valuable work on active service with the Meteorological Section of the Royal Engineers at Salonika. It is on Dr. Kidson that New Zealanders are depending when they glance at the weather forecasts to see if umbrellas are needed. Before joining the Justice Depart ment and qualifying as a barrister and solicitor Mr. J. W. MacDonald, Public Trustee, was a journalist. He entered the Public Trust Office in 1906 becoming assistant solicitor to the department. In 1909 lie was made solicitor and, after a term as assistant trustee, was appointed as Public Trustee in 1922. Mr. MacDonald has been three terms as a member of the Public Ser-

vice Superannuation Board and has given his services, backed by his experience in journalism, as editor ot the “Public Service Journal.” Mr. W. B. Mcllveney, Police Commissioner. has been 36 years in the police force and had six years in the uniform branch before becoming a detective. He was promoted to the positioft of inspector in Wellington in 1919. He attained his present position on February 1. 1926. and is the first New Zealand-born commissioner. So law-abiding a land is New Zealand that the proportion of police to population is one to 1,301. The total

strength of the force is 1.105 of alt ranks and four superintendents assist the Commissioner in controlling the department. From whales to oysters. That indicates the range of activities of the Department of Marine of which Mr. G. C. “Godfrey is secretary. Shipping and harbours also come within the scope of this department’s activities. The Director of Education, Mr. T. B. Strong, has been through the mill as a teacher and school inspector. Nine education boards are under the jurisdiction of the director and the organisation is further divided into urban and rural areas and, finally school committees. Railways are under the control of Mr. H. H. Sterling, LL.B., General Manager. Mr. Sterling is one departmental head with whom the public is familiar his name having been freely mentioned at the elections of last year. Mr. J. B. Thomson, Under-Secretary and Land Purchase Controller, is best known for his work in solving land

drainage problems. He was formerly Chief Drainage Engineer. By an Act passed in 1912, the Public Services of New Zealand were placed under the control of a Commissioner who is appointed for a term of seven years and is responsible only to Parliament. Mr. P. D. N. Verschaffelt, LL.B., at present holds that position j to which he was appointed in 1922. Mr. Verschaffelt, who is a fellow of j j the Incorporated Society of AccountI ants, entered the Civil Service in 1904. Terms in the Land and Survey Depart--1 ment and the Public Trust followed | until he succeeded Mr. F. V. Frazer as j Assistant Public Service Commissioner ■ | in 1919. I