Cost Of Public Service

Letter to the Editor

Leave In Fiji

In your article, “Fiji Yells”,

Ihere is (page 151 of December

°IM) an inaccurate statement on

Ihe leave position for Civil Ser

vants in Fiji. The paragraph rtates: EVERY public servant —whether Britisher, Australian, New Zealander or local-born —is entitled to three months’ leave, and \ravelling time to Britain every \hree years, and the cost of this n provision of relief, passages for ihe official and his wife and \amily, is enormous. There is an mnual item in the Budget of be \ween £ BO,OOO and £ lOO,OOO for the payment of these fares, alone.

Other costs can only be guessed it.”

Civil Servants who are not from Uritain are not entitled to leave n Britain every three years. They re allowed only one passage to Uritain in the whole of their :ervice, and this is conditional.

Under the 1951 Leave Conditions, vhen an officer has completed 10 iears’ service and reached a basic alary of £B2O a year, he is eligible or passage grants to the United lingdom on one occasion only.

Under the 1957 Leave Conditions, /hen an officer has completed 10 iears’ service and reached a basic alary of £1,350 a year, he is ligible for passage grants to the Inited Kingdom on one occasion mly.

Certain Proviso

There is a proviso under both ets of conditions that Heads and teputy Heads of Departments, nd other senior officers who have eached a basic salary of £1,750 a ear, may take leave in the United lingdom every six years.

Eighty-nine per cent, of Civil •ervants on the permanent estab lishment are now serving under he 1951 or 1957 Leave Conditions, md this percentage will steadily icrease. The 1957 Leave Conditions pply to all new appointments, icluding transfers.

Leave conditions were revised in 951 and again in 1957. In both ases the revisions were based on he report of a representative com littee which in each case included tiree Unofficial Members of the legislative Council.

The same article on the same age also states: “Every public ervant retires soon after 50 on a enerous pension”.

That is not so. The retiring age 5 45-60 and many Civil Servants

continue in their posts for many years after reaching the age of 50.

It would be appreciated if you would give publicity to these corrections in the next issue of your valued magazine.

I am, etc.,

E. J. F. Hackett,

Public Relations Officer Suva (The statement in December “PIM” was correct generally, so far as it applied to persons engaged for Fiji’s service prior to 1951.

But it was not correct in its general application to persons who have joined the service in the last eight years. The PRO , quite properly, has pointed out the

inaccuracy. In spite of the 1951 and 1957 changes, howwever, the annual cost of providing leave for the Fiji Public Service is between £ BO,OOO and £ loo,ooo —and this is regarded as too much. — Editor.)