CO129-456 - Governor Sir Stubbs - 1919 [10-12] — Page 385

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than most suitable for positions of authority, while in the case of minor posts it is hard to say definitely that one is of materially greater importance than another. The theory that a man will do less than his best because his future is

assured is not one to which I am disposed to attach much importance in the case of a service manned by officers of the class who are appointed to Cadetships. If exceptional cases of "slackness" do occur, they can be dealt with by withholding increments and if further measures are consider- -ed necessary it would be possible to establish a halting- -point, say at $12,000 a year, beyond which no officer would be allowed to proceed without a special certificate of com-

-petency.

I am myself convinced that for every

officer to have the advantage of knowing that, subject to diligence and good conduct, his future is definitely assured can only increase the attractions of the service to the best class of men and thus tend to generally increased

efficiency.

From the point of view of members of the service the system may appear to have two weak points. It gives them no chance of getting promotion unusually early as a result of the death or transfer of their seniors and it does not provide windfalls in the shape of acting pay. I think however that the great majority of men would prefer the certainty afforded by regular increments to the chance of mexpectedly stepping into a dead cellesgue's shoes, especially when it is always necessary to reckon with the opposite possibility of senior men remaining in the service longer than is anticipated, and the rates of pay suggested seem to me to be sufficiently liberal. to counterbalance the loss of additional pay for acting in posts of greater responsibility. I should be inclined, however, to make some special allowance for cases such as must occasionally arise

where