The Public Servant Angle

HTHE following opinions of a public ser * vant who normally lives in Port Moresby are of interest. It is nresumably men like this whom Mr. Ward had in mind when he made his statement about “certain disappointed people.” This inter view, if nothing else, shows that there is as little real liaison between Port Moresby and Canberra now as in the dimmest days

of the anti-Labour governments, to whom Mr. Ward also refers scathingly; and that in Port Moresby itself there is little communication between “Heads of De partments” and “rank and file.”

Our public servant, in summing up the present state of affairs in the provisional Territory’s public service says: AS the Minister promised, Mr. C. W.

Buttsworth, of the Chief Secretary’s Department, NSW, visited Port Moresby about seven months ago and his report, which is extremely hush-hush, was forwarded to the Administrator for his comment. None of the rank and file yet know what Mr. Buttsworth’s recommenda tions were, but a whisper says that one’ was for an average increase of about £7O a year on all salaries. (See Minister’s statement above about £72 per annum in crease for minimum salaries. He stated this on May 1, but on May 31, when this interview took place, our public servant was ignorant of it.) If this is true, it is not enough—cost of living in Moresby is rising with the arrival of every ship. Two items which I can remember off-hand are eggs at 4/6 per dozen and oranges at 9d. each. Having young children in that part of the world is an expensive hobby.

It is freely rumoured, in Moresby, that the Buttsworth report was considered by all Heads of Departments, and an en deavour was made to have some finality before the Minister left for Geneva. It is also rumoured that the Administrator was disappointed in the Buttsworth recbmmen dations on salary increases, and has sup ported the Heads in an effort to obtain larger salary increases.

The type of officer who is attracted to the New Guinea territories depends on the conditions of service offered in these

days men are not carried far by a sense of missionary zeal alone. Until the Aus tralian government is prepared to pay attractive salaries, the best men will not be available and the successful adminis tration of the Territories is doomed. Some of the recent appointees from the School of Pacific Administration in Sydney have lasted only a short time. Their salaries are not sufficient to maintain a man and his family at the reasonable standard expected in the tropics.

It is impossible for me to say whether or not any of the grievances, which were aired at a public meeting in Port Moresby last August, have been met until the Minister has given his decision on the Buttsworth report, but I do know that the seven months’ delay in adjusting salaries is causing unrest.

Some married officers are feeling the pinch and their wives have taken local employment, or are sewing under contract to local firms in order to ease the burden.

The housing position in Moresby has not changed very much since August. A cer tain number of temporary houses have been built they are comfortable despite their smallness and the fact that they are largely constructed of sisalkraft. But these houses have been built by the officers who occupy them and the Administration cannot take credit for having erected them.

One of the main causes of delay in housing is, of course, the slowness of the Commonwealth Department of Works and Housing in drawing up town-plans for these areas. Everyone is held back by the fear that whatever is built to-day may have to be tom down next week to make way for the garden cities of the town-planners.

Possibly the greatest factor in public service unrest is the failure of the Aus

tralian Government to promulgate the Public Service Ordinance and Regulations.

This, of course, may be the fault of the Department, rather than the Minister of that Department. There is also a great feeling of uncertainty regarding the future.

Ninety-nine per cent, of the present ser vice personnel are filling positions which may or may not be theirs when the per manent Administration comes into being.

Consequently, no officer is able to make any real plans for the future. This creates a sense of uncertainty which is entirely foreign to the public servant under normal circumstances.

With regard to friction between the Papuan public servants and those whose allegiance is north of the border it is hoped that this will be submerged once a new organisation called the Public Service Association of Papua- New Guinea is formed, as it should be shortly. Hitherto there have been two organisations, of course, but the new body will replace these. It is hoped that there by the differences between those from south and from north of the border will be forgotten.

Successor to M. Robineau as Noumea harbour-master is M. Artigue, a former officer on board the “Polynesien”. For part of the war M. Artigue was in com mand of the Free French Navy in New Caledonia. He is now on his way back from France. M. de Mersuay, who has provisionally been carrying out the duties of harbour-master, has been appointed in the same capacity to Jibouti, French Somaliland. M. Robineau’s retirement will cause regret among Australian sea men, among whom he numbered many friends made during his Noumea career of 30 years or more.