The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1912.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3696, 4 December 1912, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1912.

There seems ,to be a general acknowledgment that'

The Control of the "“Public Service.

the Government has been very 1

happy in its choice of Mr D. Robertson, 1.5.0 ,

secretary to the Post Office, Mr 10 j Trigge, chief accountant Common-j wealth Postal Department, and Mr A. ; 1). Thomson, S.M., to form the Public Service Commission. All three gentlemen, it will he seen, are civil servants, and, what is more, each has had a meritorious career. Perhaps some people may, at first, have imagined that better results would have been more likely to have accrued had one or two members of the new Board been non-civil servants. This, however, is not a view that can continue to be entertained after the position has been fully examined. In the first place it may be taken for granted, we think, that, so far as the members of the-public service are concerned, the appointment of civil servants alone to positions on the new Board has-been hailed with the liveliest satisfaction. Had any of the new Commissioners been non-civil servants it would undoubtedly have taken them a considerable time before they could have become fully acquainted with the working of each and every department which is to .come under the charge of the Board. The probabilities, too, a.re that innovations would have been ha.l;le to be introduced which a Board wholly composed of gentlemen trained in public service matters would, upon consideration, have no hesitation in affirming would 'only prove impracticable. On the other hand it should appeal to those outside the civil service that skilled officials such as those who have been appointed to the new Board, must already be acquainted with many of the weak spots in connection’ with the working of the different departments that they will have to control. They, too, vHI be much better able to appreciate the difficulties under which so many public officials have in the past had to labor on account of the lack of more up-to-date system- in connection with the particular department to which they belong. As at present constituted, the new Board should, therefore, be able, without any loss o| time, to commence their gigantic work of overhauling and remodelling the various departments under their charge. Mr Robertson's career is too well-known to require to be recounted at length. The fact that at the present time he has some 5000 officers under, his charge will give some idea of the administrative capacity which an official in the position of secretary to the Postal Department is called upon to display. How well he has succeeded is best shown by the fact that he was recently decorated with the Imperial Service Order. Mr Triggs, as is wellknown, held several important positions in the New Zealand Railway Department, including that of chief clerk and accountant, prior to taking up a more important Government position in "West Australia. From chief accountant lie was subsequently given joint control of the accountancy and traffic audit branches of til? Railway Department of that State. Just two years ago Mr Triggs was promoted to the important position of chief accountant in the Commonwealth Postal Department. Mr Thomson, who has for some years been magistrate at Palmerston North, makes the third of a very able trio of members who constitute the new Board. During his 34 years of service as a public -official lit; held a number of important clerkships in the Justice Department and was generally recognised as a particularly capable officer. Among his many qualifications is that of barrister-at-law. Under all the circumstanc'-s we think it would have been exceedingly difficult to have selected a Board, the personnel of which would have given greater satisfaction both inside and outside the public service.