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THE CIVIL SERVANTS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE MERCURY.
Sir,-The action of the Legislative Council in
dealing with the salaries of the Civil Service is be
manifestly unfair that in justice to those concerned
a few comments thereon cannot, I think, be considered
by that august body undeserving of notice.
The Council appear to have adopted a hard and
fast rule, that no increases shall be allowed to those
whose pay exceeds £150 per annum ; the consequence
is that the juniors have received increases
varying from £10 to £30, without objection, while
those who have served the boat time of their life in
the service are quietly passed over with heartless
indifference. I should like to know, sir, who is
in the best position, the youngster drawing his £150
per annum, or the senior, with from £300 to £400
per annum, who in most cases is the head and
mainstay of a large household, and to whom every
pound is of vital importance, in order to enable him
to meet the endless expenditure entailed in bringing
up a family respectably, and at same time noting
justly to those to whom he may be indebted ?
Some of the reasons given by the Council for deal-
ing with the higher salaries in so summary a
manner are weak indeed. One is, " They have their
pensions to revert to." Well, it does not follow because
a certain number are eligible for a retiring
allowance that they will positively be allowed to
reap the benefit of it. The officer, as a rule, remains
in the service until a late period of his life,
and more than probable dies in harness. What
then becomes of the provision for his family ?
Why, of course, they are left penniless, so far
as Government aid is concerned, and are dependent
upon what may be coming from one or other of the
provident societies, if the recipient of the bounty of
our liberal Council has been fortunate enough to
scrape together sufficient means to pay the annual
amount of his premium on policy. In many instances
the pension system has been a drawback,
inasmuch as it has deterred some from striking out
into a new line of life, which probably offered great
inducement to do so, and doubtless would have been
readily accepted by one not in any way tied to the
service, For instance, an officer of the present
day, in receipt of £150 per annum, may to-morrow
receive an outside offer of £175 or £200, and can
at once accept it, as no inducement is now given
by the colony to retain its officers. The best,
therefore, will of course look out for themselves.
Then, again, it has been said, "Look at the
adjoining colonies, they are reducing, while here it
is proposed to increase." Now, members of the
Legislature must be perfectly aware that such comparison
is ridiculous for it is well known that the
staff of the various departments in Victoria, and
New Zealand especially, have been increased to
absurd proportions, arising from a variety of causes ;
one being the necessity of every incoming Ministry,
in Victoria particularly, having to provide for a
certain number of hangers-on and in all the colonies
the aggregate amount of remuneration is 50
per cent. higher than allowed here. If honourable
members have any doubt on the subject, let them
obtain copies of the estimates of expenditure of the
various colonies, and place them side by side with those
now under discussion ; the absurdity of comparison
will at once be seen and yet the cost of living in
Tasmania is, on the whole, quite as expensive as in
Victoria or New South Wales ; but some of our
legislators appear to be under the impression that
no consequence what taxes are imposed the civil
servants escape free of all, whereas in fact they feel
the brunt of it quite as much, if not more than any
other class of the community.
As no public demonstration against the proposed
increases (about £1,000 in all has been shown, it
can only be surmised that the opposition of the
Legislative Council arises from want of a clear
knowledge of the origin of such increases being proposed,
therefore the rejection of them is but
another act of injustice to be added to others
which the civil servants have been obliged to
submit. The senior members of the service are
sufferers to this day by the withdrawal of the
classification system under which they took office,
an act that can only he termed a breach of agreement,
and if he broken with employers of a private
firm would no doubt result in a Supreme Court
case ; but civil servants from their very position and
in matters of this kind helpless, and therefore it
behoves the Parliament of the country to see that
their servants are protected against acts of injustice,
as well as any other portion of their constituency.
Trusting that a better and more liberal feeling
may yet predominate in the Legislative Council
with regard to the civil servants, Yours, etc.,
ONE OF THEM.
. Hobart Town, October 25, 1889.
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