1) _Ko. 7.

that the Board will at any time afford Ministers a ready and impartial aid in arriving at a just conclusion on any question relating to the Civil Service. 19. The power given in the eleventh section, to abolish and consolidate offices, will, we think, enable a gradual reduction and reconstruction of many of the departments to be effected, and the provision made in the twelfth section, for compensation and re-employment, will protect, as far as desirable, the interests of those whose services are no longer required. 20. The third part of the Bill relates to appointments and promotion. "We think it advantageous that persons entering the service in the fifth class shall be at that age when there is great aptitude for learning a profession, and we think it necessary that every candidate shall pass a preliminary examination, without competition, and that his first appointment shall be conditional, and upon probation for six months. It would also be advisable that the subordinates entering the fifth class should be selected, so far as practicable, in the Province in which the vacancies occur. Promotion is to take place from class to class, and in the four lower classes by rotation, provided the officer next on the list is qualified; but in filling up vacancies in the first class, we have allowed a much greater latitude of discretion, by enabling a selection to be made out of the whole number of officers in the second class. A power of special appointment is given in the 16th section, but the appointment is only to be provisional, until the Houses of the Legislature have had an opportunity of considering it. 21. The fourth part of the Bill, relating to discipline and leave of absence, does not require any explanation. 22. In considering the subject of superannuation, we have also considered the question referred to us in our Commission, whether retiring and other allowances should be provided by a contribution from the clerks, in the nature of a Benefit Society; and if so, whether the said contribution should be compulsory, and therefore general, or only voluntary. 23. We have arrived at the conclusion that compulsory or voluntary contribution for the purposes of a Benefit Society, under the administration of the Government, would be inexpedient. Wo believe that a system of compulsory deductions would be a fictitious and an inconvenient mode of paying a less salary than that assigned to the office, and that it would mislead, as it is difficult to convince contributors to such a fund, or their widows, or other representatives, that they have not a right, in cases of forfeiture or insufficient length of service or otherwise, to participate in a fund which they, or those whom they represent, have aided to form. Such a system also complicates the relations of Government with its officers, and gives rise to embarrassing questions. Objections of a similar character exist to a system of voluntary contributions to a Government Fund, and we believe that any arrangement of this kind which clerks may desire to make will be much more advantageously made by them with private societies than with the Government. No such system, compulsory or voluntary, has yet existed in the Civil Service in the Colony, and we cannot recommend its introduction. 24. "We think that the fairest and most beneficial plan is that the Legislature should definitely fix certain superannuation and retiring allowances, and the conditions on which they can be granted, and then, having regard to such prospective allowance, assign such unencumbered salaries as it may think fit, 25. "We recommend that with respect to future appointments part five of the Bill be substituted for the present Superannuation Acts, but we think it equitable that the existing rights of officers under these Acts should be reserved. 26. ."We propose in the twenty-ninth section of the Bill that persons who have been in the employment of the New Zealand Company, and who are now in the Civil Service of the Colony, shall be allowed to count the time of their employment by that Company in the computation of their retiring allowance. We think that the services of that Company in the early colonisation of New Zealand, and the quasi-official position in which it was for some time placed by the Imperial Parliament, fully entitle those persons to that privilege. 27. The Bill also provides that officers at the age of sixty shall retire from the Service, unless specially required by the Governor in Council to remain ; and also, that officers who arrive at that age within ton years after the passing of the Act shall be entitled to half their annual salary as a superannuation allowance, if they have been ten years in the Service. This clause is introduced in order to enable those officers now in the Service who are sixty years of age, or who will become so within ten years, to be released at that age from further duty, although they have not been more than ten years in the Service. We believe that such a course will prove to be a wise economy. The Government will be able to call on such officers, when official duty exceeds their failing powers, to retire on a liberal provision. We fully agree with the English Superannuation Commissioners that " the evil consequences of retaining a single Civil servant in an important post for which he has become incompetent cannot be estimated in money, and may be much more than an equivalent for the expense of the superannuation of a whole Department." As officers in future will only be admitted into the Service (if the Bill becomes law) at an early age, they would, when they arrive at the age of sixty, be entitled from length of service to a sufficient income at the usual rate assigned in the other clauses, and we have named ten years as the limit of the duration of this exceptional clause, in order to provide for the case of those who may have been recently appointed, and are now fifty years old. 28. In accordance with the precedent established in the United Kingdom and in Australian colonies, we recommend that in cases after ten year's service, where the necessity for retirement, under medical certificate, or otherwise, should arise, the amount granted should be ten-sixtieths of the salary of the superannuated officer on an average of the last three years, and that for every succeeding year the amount should rise by one sixtieth, until at the end of forty years service* it attain its maximum amount of two-thirds of the salary taken on a similar average. 29. The 30th and 37th sections of the Bill provide for cases where an officer is disabled or killed in the active discharge of his duty, and authorises the Governor, in the former case, to grant to such disabled officer an allowance at the rate of his salary, and in the latter case to his family an allowance of a year's pay. The Bill only relates to Civil officers, (other Acts providing for Militia, &c.) and we

Governor can abolish iniel consolidate offices. Appointment*. Promotion. Special appointments. Benefit Society. Conl nbution for purpose* of Uenetil Sooietj consid.'ivd inexpedient. Unencumbered salaries recommended. Kxi-lin?; claims to feuiK'nuiiHuition reserved. Offloera formerly in Mrrioß of New ZealandC'onipanv. Offioen at sixty v;irs of age to be superannuated tml6M specially required to remain. Elates of superannuation allowanoe. Allowance on full pay certain cases.

4

REPORT OE THE CIVIL