for Recruits
p. 119 · Read in the full issue
Islands Govts’ Drive for Recruits
IF you must become a public servant it will probably pay you to do so in Papua and New Guinea rather than in Fiji The Fiji Government at present is being urged to create an Executive Division in its Civil Ser vice, the purpose of this being to train cadet officers who will eventu ally become departmental account ants, secretaries, etc.
Cadets should have passed the NZ University Entrance examination and be in their late teens or early 20’s. Commencing salary recom mended is from £360-£4OO per annum —and this is what the Fiji Public Relations Officer says about the rest of it: “On confirmation of appoint ment, after three, or in special cases two years, a salary of £5OO per year is recommended. . . An exceptionally bright candidate could reach a salary of £750 in eight years, or at the normal rate of progress, after 10 years.”
Papua and New Guinea also has cadetships covering District Services staff, medicine, teaching, forestry agriculture and so forth. In most cases these youngsters are paid while they stay in Sydney and finsh their training.
They have to be between 18 and
24, and salary (in 1954) ranged from £444 at 18 to £920 at 24. Once they get to the Territory they receive the usual territorial allowances—and although £750 Fijian is worth about £B4O Australian, they certainly don’t have to wait 10 years to get it.
Still, cadets do not live by bread alone—and civilised Fiji probably has a lot of virtues that primitive New Guinea has not.