HOT A BED OF ROSES.

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 228, 24 January 1885, Page 6

HOT A BED OF ROSES.

Ix pursuance of a recommendation made by the Public Petitions Committee of the House of Representatives last session, the Minister of Public Works has appointed a Board to deal with inquiries into the conduct of Civil (Servants connected with his department. Hitherto the permanent heads of departments have acted as a kind of Grand Viziers, and whenever there has been a Board of Inquiry to deal with complaints against public officers it has consisted" of officials often nominated by the accuser. Ministers in such cases have generally accepted the recommendations of the permanent head or Under-Secretary, so that the chance of justice being meted out to the accused has been very remote. The constitution of independent Boards to deal with alleged broaches of the Civil Service regulations and small delinquincics, neglect of minor duties, unpuuctuality, or inefficiency, is a delicate experiment, and will require careful and judicious handling. However carefully selected the Board is bound to be subjected to a great deal of pressure from influential quarters, especially whore the Civil Servant into whoso conduct they have to inquire has wealthy and powerful friends, or is connected by marriage with " the great governing families," the Atkinsons, Kichmonds, Hursthouses, and others, whose name is legion, and whose family relationships would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer or a patent manufacturer of genealogical trees to define. For myself Ido not cnyy the members of these Boards.