WELLINGTON NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 260, 13 April 1915, Page 2

WELLINGTON NOTES.

*&. (AIDING THE MOTHERLAND.

Wellington Mondr. r . If local rumor is correct, the Dominion, will hear presently that some ad-1 ditional assistance is being offered the , Imperial authorities by the New, Zea- : land Government. The Hon. James Allen, Minister of Defence, has stated already that lie is giving a large amount of thought to the means by which New Zealand might increase her contribution to the defence of the Empire, and ho has left it to be .inferred that no- 1 offer made by him has been declined by the British Government. Australia has offered an additional brigade of four thousand men, and the 'War OHice has accepted it promptly. We may believe, then, that Mr. Allen has not offered more men up to the present time, since the ' acceptance would have been similarly ready in the case of New Zealand. But there are other means by which the Dominion might assist if the effort were required, and some of them were outlined to your correspondent the other day by an ex-Imperial officer who has kept in touch with what is being done in the Motherland. 'New Zealand's woollen mills are capable of rendering lirore aid to the Empire than they are doing at the present time, and the Imperial authorities have supplied a precedent for State interference to that end. There is no reason to doubt that the woollen companies would co-operate with the Defence Department to the utmost of their.ability if they were told' what was needed. ' Already they have; shown their willingness to make 'speeial efforts in connection with the equipment of the expeditionary force. Then it appears that the ammunition works at Auckland are not being used to their' full capacity, although the Empire needs every ro.ind of service cartridge that can be produced. The War Office is appealing for additional hands for the armament factories in the Old' Country, rind New Zealand could spare several hundred skilled engineers and artisans of the kind required. The railway workshops and the private engineering fstablishments would be inconvenienced by the withdrawal of a portion of their Bkillod labor, but they would be suffering no more than thousands of British concerns are doing already in the >ause nf Empire. In this connection attention may be drawn to the fact that ships are leaving New Zealand weekly for the Motherland with accommodation for many hundreds of men. The Rotorua, which left here the other day, can carry over 400 steerage passengers, but she actually carried about a score. Surely those berths should not be vacant at a time when the Motherland is crying aloud for men and more men.

COMMISSIONER RULE. The ex-manager of the Ruakura State Farm is explaining why he resigned his position, which he had filled, by the way, with conspicuous success. He says that lie haß been driven out of the Government service by the Public Service Commissioners, who made it impossible for him to conduct the farm and handle his staff in a reasonable manner. He could not engage a man, dismiss a man or raise a salary without securing the consent of the Commissioners, who were slow to act, hound by red tape and ignorant of local circumstances. One hears many complaints of this kind about the departmental quarters in Wellington, and they cannot all be dismissed as born of a desire for "influence" or "favoritism." The principle underlying commissioner rule—the non-politi-ral control of appointments—is sound, hut the practice is imperfect. Responsible officers, who know the requirements of their departments and have local knowledge, cannot engage a charwoman or a temporary clerk. They must state their needs to the Public Service Commissioners, who sit in Wellington and make the selection under conditions that would not be tolerated by any private business house. Tho eommisisoncrs are able men, but they arc not omniscient, and they obviously are less fitted to make an intelligent choice than the "man on the job" is. There is very much that is good in the new order, but Parliament will have to give more attention to the system of public service appointments before perfection is in sight.