H.—l4.

As Government lias decided, according to the policy set forth in the Budget, to make an increase of 5 per cent, to all Public servants, the question of regrading should stand over meantime. There is ample provision in the existing legislation to meet the cases of individual officers for regrading whose duties and responsibilities have " materially increased." It is considered that no general regrading can be considered until Government feels it is in the position to fully restore the " salary cuts." It is felt this is all that is hoped for by the Services themselves. Institute of Public Administration. Some six or seven years ago I was approached by a representative of the Institute of Public Administration in London with a view to forming a branch of that Society in New Zealand. At that time, and for some considerable time thereafter, I felt that the proposal had many points which would commend themselves to our Service in New Zealand. I still think so, but possibly not so enthusiastically as I did at the first in that I now realize that, owing to our comparatively small number of executive heads and officers, it would be difficult to form a society similar to the Society of Public Administration in London and on the same lines as that society follows in the Old Country. When it is considered that the institute in England now consists of a membership of less than 2,000 one realizes there is little prospect of forming an institute on similar lines in New Zealand. I had hoped that when the senior officers of the various State Services formed a Civil Service Institute that this would form the basis of a branch society in New Zealand of the Institute of Public Administration. I consider we are too small in numbers to set up a similar society, but I feel that it would be advantageous for our chief executive officers to become members of the society. They would thus be enabled to keep in touch with, the various problems that are dealt with in the Old Land and discussed by members of the institute. In New Zealand I think it would be more desirable and more efficacious if the various units of our own Public Service in the principal centres of the Dominion got together for the purpose of discussing or studying the various matters affecting the Public Service in New Zealand. It would be an all-round benefit if there were a collaboration of ideas and a frank and free discussion of the problems which affect them as officers of different Departments. A review of the work of the society shows that even in England difficulties have been experienced. I can do no better than refer to an extract of a critical survey by Sir Henry Bunbury, K.C.8., in 1933, on that particular Institute : — " If I may try to express what was in their minds I would put it in some such terms as these. We are at the end of an epoch and are entering into a strange and difficult phase. New problems in government will confront us ; situations novel or long unknown will have to be dealt with. Governments will be compelled, whether they desire it or not, to intervene in matters from which their predecessors held themselves free and with which they regarded themselves as unconcerned. There will be a need, on the one hand, for preparation, for thinking ahead, and, on the other, for the highest executive efficiency of which the Public Services are capable. Let the thinking men in those services get together and prepare themselves for the demands which in our judgment are going to be made upon them. Let the habit of co-ordination be developed below the Cabinet level, and at the thinking stage not simply at the stage when immediate action becomes necessary." That is the problem which faces us to-day. I feel that our Service is fully competent to undertake the duties which are likely to be cast upon it. The Service, however, cannot stand still. It must move with the times and we must have officers who are fully qualified to step into any vacant position that arises. It is pleasing to note that Public Administration Societies have been formed in Wellington and in Christchurch, the objects of which are : — (a) To study public administration generally, including efficient departmental management; the official relations of the Departments and their officers with the public ; and other subjects tending to promote general efficiency : (b) To collect and disseminate knowledge and information relating to the matters enumerated in (a) : (c) Generally, in any manner to promote and encourage the study of the subjects mentioned in (a) : (d) To collaborate or affiliate with any other person, society, or body in the study of similar or cognate subjects. 2—II. 14.

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