"GETTING BACK."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 165, 29 November 1912, Page 4

"GETTING BACK."

The appointment of Mr. Royd Garlick as Director of Physical Education is causing some controversy in the South, and the Lyttelton Times bases a leader | upon it condemning the Government for not having thrown the position open to public competition. Our contemporary states that had any Liberal Ministry made a similar appointment it would have been characterised by the Opposition as the very worst form of American graft, and would have been condemned as the most disgraceful political nepotism. The Times insinuates that as Mr. Garlick is a personal friend of Mr. Allen's and other members of the Cabinet, he should not have been appointed to the position without having had to run the gauntlet of competition. But it seems to us that the Times is adopting exactly the attitude that it is condemning in others. We do not know whether the appointment is a good one or a bad one, and that is a question that only time will settle. This, of course, applies, to every appointment to the public service, and it is not customary, in any event, to call for .applications for positions of this soit. We do not invite "tenders" when we require a new .

Supreme Court Judge, or a new Prose-cutor-General or a new railway stationmaster, for these appointments are very properly left in the hands of the Government of the day, cither directly through the Ministry or through its departmental heads. In the case of Mr. Garlick there is nothing to show that his appointment is not an eminently proper one. Indeed, lie seems to be a man peculiarly fitted for the position for which he has been selected. Interviewed in Christchuroh, Mr. Allen is reported to have said that Mr. Royd Garlick "was strongly recommended by some of the medical profession. He had made a special study of physiology, anatomy and hygiene, and from my own knowledge of him I am satisfied that he is a man that will do good work. His heart is in it, and he is enthusiastic. The. success of his work in Wellington has proved his capacity. Before making the appointment, I thought carefully over the question of advertising it not only here, but in England and America, but I came to the conclusion that it was better to have a man I knew on the spot, who had the qualifications, than run the risk of making an appointment through advertisement. American universities, in making appointments, never advertise. They know where the good men are, and they get them. I knew where I could get a good man. I got him, and lam satisfled that in his hands the scheme is safe." These are excellent credentials, and if Mr. Garlick fills .the specifications the Government deserves only credit for having spared the expense of calling for applications for the position. The fact that Mr. Garlick is a personal friend of members of the Cabinet should not be any bar to his appointment to the public service. If he is the right mail in the right place it does not matter whether he is a Timbuctooan or an Esquimau, or a fourth cousin twice removed of the .man from whom Mr. Massey buys his boots pr the husband of a girl that Miv Hemes went to school with. If he' is the wrong man the country will very soon find out and demand his dismissal. The Lyttelton Times has a reputation for being fair and generous in its criticism of its political opponents, hut upon this occasion it seems to have allowed its anxiety to "get back" at the Government to override its customarily sane and., judicial attitude, and to be hitting dangerously near the belt.