Sessional_Paper_1932 — Page 63

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eye on the spending of money, and notifies heads of departments if he considers that they are exhausting too rapidly or too early in the year any of their departmental votes. To give effect to this recommendation all that will be necessary will be to reduce the number of items excluded from the General Warrant. Power to do this is contained in

Colonial Regulation No. 262.

4. Secondly, all ordinary matters which involve the expenditure of public money should be dealt with direct by the Treasurer and the head of the department concerned. Only in cases where policy is involved, or where there is a disagreement between the Trasurer and the head of the department, or between heads of departments, should reference be made to the Colonial Secretary's Office. It will be sufficient to enumerate a few of such matters. Rent and house allowances, passages, pensions, indents on and all correspondence with the Crown Agents, etc., etc.

5. Thirdly, there are other matters in which neither the Secretariat nor the Treasury are concerned. These should be solely within the competence of heads of departments. The personal files of officers who are confined to one department, e.g. policemen, revenue officers, should be kept in the departments, only when some point on which information or a ruling by Government is required should they go to the Secretariat. The leave of such officers should be approved by the head of the depart- ment, it being sufficient to forward the name and other particulars concerning the officer, to the Treasurer and to the Secretariat for transmission to the Colonial Office and Crown Agents.

6. Finally, permits for occupying land should be dealt with by the Superintendent of Crown Lands and Surveys. The setting out of "zones", as advocated in the Com- mission's report on the Public Works Department should, save in very few instances, do away with the necessity for referring to the Colonial Secretary as to whether a certain lot is available or not for sale.

7. With the Secretariat and the business of Government organized in accordance with the recommendations made above it will not be necessary to have such a large staff. The Commissioners are of opinion that three Assistants, one Cadet of consider- able seniority, one of about ten years' service and one junior Cadet should be adequate. To facilitate the work the Chief Clerk should in future be recruited from the Registry of the Colonial Office. The division of work amongst the Assistants should be between (a) matters which are municipal in nature, and (b) those which are governmental or political in nature. In the clerical staffs, Senior and Junior, a reduction of twenty per cent. should be made.

CADET SERVICE.

The number of Senior posts in the Cadet Service was recently increased from five to seven. The Commissioners recommend, as they did regarding the posts of Senior Masters and Senior Mistresses in the Education Department, that these posts be not automatically filled on a vacancy occurring, but only when an officer sufficiently qualified and efficient to be deserving of such promotion is available. These promotions should be made strictly on merit and not seniority.

SENIOR CLERICAL & ACCOUNTING STAFF.

The Commissioners recommend that there be a reduction of twenty per cent. in the various approved classes on the Establishment. This figure has already been recom- mended for the Senior Clerical and Accounting Staff of the Colonial Secretary's Office.

2. Sufficient attention does not appear to have been paid to the recruitment of this staff, which leaves much to be desired, as is evidenced by the recent dismissal of two officers from it. Unless men are already thoroughly trained in clerical or accounting work and of good character they should not be engaged locally. There may be an apparent saving in the cost of passage out from England in the first instance, but this is more than offset by the extra expense which naturally falls. on Government when it employs inefficient officers. Recruitment should be through the Crown Agents, who have years of experience and who have a far wider field of selection, than has the local Government. In making the foregoing recommendation the Commissioners appreciate the fact that there are some very efficient officers in the Senior Clerical and Accounting Staff who have been engaged locally.