PUBLIC SERVICE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 December 1939, Page 8

PUBLIC SERVICE

SYSTEM OF PROMOTION PROMISE OF SWEEPING CHANGES. INSTITUTION OF ADVANCEMENT BY MERIT. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Sweeping changes are contemplated in the Public Service and the present system of promotion on seniority is to be replaced in future by promotion on merit. The replacement will be a gradual one, spreading over a period of years and the first step towards the change was taken in the appointment of Mr S T. Barnett, of Christchurch, to the newly-created position of Superintendent of Staff Training. Mr Barnett in this capacity will be attached to the Public Service Commissioner’s office. The duties of the Superintendent of Staff Training are to instruct, and advise cadets, encourage them to follow courses for which they have a special aptitude and to advise them on the examinations they should take to qualify for higher, positions offering in the service. As another step in the move towards! greater efficiency in the service, the Public Service Commissioner has appointed recruitment liaison officers throughout New Zealand, there being two officers in each of the four main cities and one in each of the smaller centres. Under the system now being instituted, the liaison officers will work in a dual capacity. It will be their responsibility to advise applicants for cadetships on the nature of the work required of them and to direct them into the Departments for which their qualifications are most suited. At the same time, the liaison officers will submit reports on the qualities and qualifications of applications to the Commissioner.