IX—No 7a

arrange that, instead of receiving an allowance, the actual expenses reasonably incurred by such officer shall be paid by the Government on the production of proper vouchers. No travelling allowance to be paid unless the officer is absent at night from his usual residence. No forage allowance to be given or Government horses to be lent to officers in the Civil Service. AVhen an officer is required to travel on public business not pertaining to his Department, a special allowance should be made to each officer before starting. Coroner's mileage allowance to remain as at present. ALLOWANCES FOB REMOVAL OF OFFICERS. It is also necessary to provide some regulation for reimbursing expenses of removal to officers changed from station to station by the Government. AYe recommend that the actual travelling expenses for themselves and families should be paid upon the production of vouchers, except when tho removal has been occasioned by the conduct of the officer removed, in which case the Minister having control of the Department to which the officer is attached, should decide what allowance, if any, should under the particular circumstances, be granted. CONCLUDING REMARKS. AYe annex a comparative statement in illustration of the larger savings, amounting altogether to £70,720 17s. per annum, which we anticipate will result when full effect shall have been given to our recommendations. This statement is necessarily conjectural, as we have no precise information as to the exact expenditure, nor have our opportunities permitted us to obtain such an insight into the business of every office and station throughout the Colony, and knowledge of the ability of the officers as would enable us to make definite recommendations. The greatest economy which we believe will be eventually^ effected will result from the proper organization of the Civil Service, and from rendering it more attractive to candidates of ability. This result will gradually accrue from tho operation of the Act, by the apportionment and classification of the Civil servants in accordance with the services required, the effect of system in appointment, promotion, and discipline, and the ultimate consolidation of the service—presuming that the proposed Rill becomes law, and that it is administered in accordance with the view taken by us in these Reports. No mere reduction of departmental expenditure will be equivalent to the attainment of that complete organization towards which our labours have been directed. A service constructed as we propose, consisting of a limited number of officers fixed by the apportionment and classification provided for, will suffice not only for existing requirements, but will be able without additional expense (comparatively) to discharge all the duties of the Public Service for a greatly increased population. The government of a small population must be of disproportionate cost numerically to that of a great population, more especially when, as in New Zealand, the people are sparsely settled over a very extended country, and the ordinary business of Government is divided amongst ten independent services. A large Civil Service affords better opportunities for the advantageous division of duties, discipline, training, and selection of officers, —a larger field for and increased opportunity of preferment, and greater stability than a limited service—and also greatly conduces to economy and efficiency. The service we have in view will not only be economical in respect of its own cost, but will be so to a much greater extent in the administration of affairs and control of expenditure. Disorganization is the most costly of all conditions. AVhile it exists, waste of power and waste of money rapidly succeed each other in a vicious circle of reproduction ; and the addition of officers only intensifies the demand it cannot satisfy. Communication over the w-hole Colony is now sufficiently frequent and regular to permit of the transaction of all administrative business at the Ministerial Offices, and the strict limitation of all local officers to their separate functions, each being held responsible to the head of his department at the Seat of Government, and through that officer to the Minister having control of the department. This system preserves responsibility in all its stages, and fixes it distinctly, leaving to the Minister the final discretion to be exercised through an experienced officer vested with such control over his department as to make him properly responsible for its working. Such a clearly established gradation of responsibility is the more necessary under the responsible form of Parliamentary Government, the action of which must frequently place in office gentlemen unacquainted with the administration of public affairs, and who must rely to a very great extent upon the officer of the Civil Service they find in charge of any department under their Ministerial control. It should therefore be the object of every Government to establish by regulation and precedent a distinct gradation of duties, and of discretion amongst the Civil Servants, and to bring to a centre, in oue officer for each department, the complete responsibility for that department, and to invest him

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REPORT OF THE CIVIL