OTHER DEPARTMENTS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 8, 20 February 1902, Page 2

OTHER DEPARTMENTS.

The returns from other Departments in Christchurch have an instructive bearing on the outcry about the ' stuffiing' of the public Bervice with ' Papiats.' It would, in fact, seem as if the motto of Home branches of the public (service in Christchurch as well as in other parts of the Colony is : 'No Papist need apply.' As before, the complete name-list of all the officials referred to in this article is before us.

Department of Justice— Supreme Court: Judge, £1500 per annum ; registrar, £400 ; clerk, £210 ; clerk, £95 ; crier, £127. Not one of these is a Catholic.

Magistrate's Court : Stipendiary Magistrate, £550 per annum, with coroner's fees ; chief clerk, £325 ; 2 ad clerk, £210 ; 3rd clerk, £140 ; 4th clerk, £85 ; 3 bailiffs, one at £180, one at £125, the third it paid by fees, averaging probably £1 per week. All these are lion- Catholics exoept the third olerk, whose position is a subordinate •ne, and who joined the service outside Ghristohurch six yean ago. Deedt and Registry. — Chief officer, £475 per annum; two others at £220 and £185 per annum. All are non-Catholics. Stamp Department. — Two officers, one at £220 per annum, the other at £115 per annum. Both are non- Catholics. Land Transfer Department. — Registrar, £550 per annum ; six others at £250, £180, £140, £75, £65, and £65. All are non Catholics. Official Assignee's Office: Offioial assignee, £450 per]aunu<n another officer at £200 per annum. Both are non- Catholics, Department of Labor. — Inspector, £215 per annum ; 'another at £50 per annum. Both are non- Catholics. Stock.— One inspector, £280 per annum ;2 at £250 ;1 at £235 ; 1 at £180 ;3 at £156 ; 1 veterinary surgeon at £200; All are\nonCatholics. Department of Lands and Burveys. — Commissioner, 1 annum ; chief draughtsman, £350 ; 3 draughtsmen, £220 each 2 at £275 ; 1 at £240 ; 2 at £250 ; 1 at £120 ; 1 at £75 ; receivers of land revenue, £285 and £230 ; 6 clerks (Land), £220, £170, £110 £110, £95, £95 (two of these are Catholics) ; 8 rangers, £200, £200 £165, £164, £156, £156, £110, £85 ; 2 surveyors, £300 and £280 All these employes, 30 in number, are non-Catholica, except two clerks. One of these has been 16 years in the service, the other five years, and both joined the Department outside Christohuroh. They draw in salaries only £330 per annum, out of a total of £6116 per annum paid in salaries and wages, or at the rate of £1 in every £18 10a Bd. This is, ouriously enough, both in relative numberß and pay, the position of Catholics in the local post-offioe. It will be remembered that Catholics are one in seven of the total population of the Colony. The Lands and Income Tax Department employ locally about 10 persons. Not one of them is a Catholic. It is not, however ,a Department of permanent offioials, and at the present moment w e are unable to give a return of their salaries. THE LISTS GIVEN ABOVE FOR CHRISTOHUROH COVER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE PUBLIO SERVANTS. OF THESE ONLY EIGHT ARE CATHOLICB— THAT IS, LESS THAN ONE IN NINETEEN. We are unable to accurately state the proportion of publio moneys which they draw in salaries and wages, but we are satisfied that it is LESS THA.N ONE POUN D IN EVERY TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS EXPENDED IN THIS WAY. And yet Catholics are one in seven of the total population of New Zealand. < It is about time that the Catholic eleotors in Christohuroh should think of pressing candidates at the next elections as to whether they are in favor of fair play to all creeds and classes in the distribution of publio employments. In the course of our investigations we have, in various Depart ments throughout the Colony, come aoross a number of cases in whioh due and well-merited promotion or increased pay is freely and strongly alleged to have been withheld from Catholic publio servants with long and blameless records, and jnniors or persons not otherwise entitled promoted over their heads. We have made inquiry into some of these oasead and, should the parties conoerned be willing, we shall b 9 prepar e> to pnt duly authorised offioials or a commission of inquiry on the track of an investigation whioh should determine whether or not, in a number of specified individual oases, the profession of the Catholic religion has been a bar to advancement in the public service of the Colony. A further instalment of returns regarding the publio service in Christohuroh will appear in our next issue.