CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3191, 17 May 1909, Page 4

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

In an article on Civil Service reform, which has been contributed to the Auckland "Herald" by Mr J. A. Hanan, M.P., he ascribed a great deal of the present abnormal condition of the service to the latitude assumed in the past, in regard to temporary appointments. He says as appointments to the temporary staff were so easily made, and no exception wa3 takeii to the course in public, they becarna very numerous, and in 1907, as they then formed a very large proportion of the whola service, the Government passed the Public Service Classification Act, which at'ona stroke removed all their disabilities, and made them permanent officers of equal rank with those qualified men who had passed the prescribed examination. "To my mind," says Mr Hanan, "the great curse of the service is the incessant use of 'seniority,' or 'length of service' in determining promotion. i cannot see that length of service should be allowed to enter into the calculations at all, unless (which is rarely ths case) the capabilities of two officers are in every respect equal. It should be insisted upon that when a vacancy has to be filled, the head of the department should, f in his recommendation, certify that apart from length of service the officer recommended for promotion is the best qualified to carry out the duties of the vacant position."