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1941. NEW ZEALAND.

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSIONER (TWENTY-NINTH REPORT OF THE).

Presented to both Nouses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

To His Excellency Sir Cyril Louis Norton Newall, Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Member of the Order of Merit, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over His Majesty's Dominion of New Zealand and its Dependencies. May it please Your Excellency,— As Acting-Commissioner appointed in terms of section 23 (4), Finance Act, 1919, I have the honour to submit the following report as required by section 15 of the Public Service Act, 1912.

REPORT.

It is my very sad duty to report the death of the Public Service Commissioner, Mr. T. Mark. This occurred with tragic suddenness while Mr. Mark was about his duties as Commissioner on 9th June, 1941. My sense of personal loss is profound. Mr. Mark was my colleague as joint Public Service Commissioner from 16th August, 1936, until December, 1938, since when I have been closely in touch with him. My personal feeling about this distressing event is shared by the whole Public Service. Mr. Mark had established for himself in the Public Service a reputation not only as a leader, but as a just and kindly man. He came to office at a singularly difficult time. The Public Service, in common with the whole community, had been ravaged by an economic depression and the whole Service was in the doldrums. A much overdue regrading had to be undertaken. The new Government had just succeeded to office, and a rapid expansion of Public Service functions occurred when entirely new fields of public enterprise were entered. Mr. Mark brought to his task a unique experience. He had been a member of the staff of the Public Service Commissioner's Office since the inception of central personnel control in this country in 1913, passing

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