REGULATIONS AND MORE REGULATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 276, 14 April 1913, Page 4

REGULATIONS AND MORE REGULATIONS.

We have had occasion already to refer to the modern Governmental tendency tj make regulations upon every conceivable subject. The present Government bids fair to beat all existing records in its anxiety to see that nobody in its employment shall look over a fence or smile on the wrong side of his mouth, or wink the other eye during office hours. These are admirable provisions, of course, just as are those demanding that the police shall know Hip population of sulphuric acid before they can arrest a drunk, and that the public service generally can not be allowed to come on duty unless it wears a two-and-a-half-inch collar and can spell "cat"' correctly at the first effort. But Hit* latest departmental emendation is even more wonderful and more objectionable, and we are not surprised that the ollicers of the Post and Telegraph Department are up in anus and indignantly protesting. The new regulation imposes upon Postmasters and officers in charge of the Postal and Telegraph stall' the responsibility of regulating the habits of their subordinates out of office hours. The new regulation, as it stands, reads: — ••Postmasters and officers in charge of start's have the grave responsibility cast upon them of seeing that the private habits of their assistants are beyond pubteproach, and their conduct not

likely to bring them into trouble or to discredit the department. Should any case come under review which a postmaster or officer in charge might reasonably have been expected by proper oversight to have prevented, the circumstance will be seriously noticed. It need scarcely be pointed out that nothing bordering on espionage, or action likely to injure the self-respect of any employee, is desired or necessary to enable responsible officers to keep in touch with the outdoor habits of officers and other employees on their staffs."

Hut is it not an insult to the self-respect of every member of the staff that it should be deemed necessary to subject them to this form of supervision after ofnee hours? We have always found the post and telegraph staff a singularly circumspect, reliable and courteous body of men and women, and it is hard to imagine why they should be singled out for this special treatment. Also, if the heads of the departments are to spend their spare time in supervising their subordinates out of hours, who is to take charge of the important ta>k of guarding the morals of the head* of departments? The system is open to all sorts of abuses. A postmaster may object on principle to dancing, but is he, for that reason, to 'be allowed to pillory one of his telephone girls for indulging in an hour or two at "tripping the light fantastic toe?" The same thing, of course, applies to the theatre, and smoking and drinking and half-a-dozen other forms of social diversion which are harmless' enough in moderation. The principle seems to us to be a sadly wrong one. It, is a centralisation of authority that can only weaken the morale of the whole force. So long as the members of the staff perform their duties faithfully and well in office hours, and are not guilty at other times of any public scandal, we certainly think they should be allowed to administer their private lives in such manner as they think fit. The regulation as it stands is a grave reflection on the whole staff, and we arc not surprised that it is creating the utmost indignation among a body of hard-working and capable men and women. The Web lington Dominion alleges that the regulation originated in the time of the late Mr. Seddon. That it has not been enforced till now shows that the powers that were had awakened to the impossibility of making people moral by Act of Parliament—and regulations. The present Government should, if it is wisely advised, follow suit and not endeavor to enforce the regulation.