THE CIVIL SERVANT.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—S0 much of your article on the Civil Servant is an expres- sion of opinion that I shall not attempt to deal with it as a whole, but there is one question of fact on which I may fitly say something. You say that the present system of adjusting the cost of living puts undue temptation in the way of Civil Servants who have to calculate the figures and who are inte- rested in the result. As a matter of theory this may be admitted at once, but, apart from the implied reproach to Civil Servants, surely the onus is upon you to suggest some better method. It has been generally agreed that in the present abnormal times increases may properly be based upon the increased cost of living, and figures have to be taken from somewhere. The natural place would seem to be a Government Department, and in any event there are no other authoritative figures. I have been connected with these matters for a number of years, and it may interest you to know that Civil Servants as a whole, along with many other people, regarded the Government figures as far too low, and in arguing the case before the Conciliation and Arbitration Board I submitted figures from another body. The reply of the Board was that these figures could not be accepted as they had not the authority of a Government Department, and so it is not easy to see what figures we should work upon if the Government figures are not to be accepted. When we were concluding the very agreement to which you take some exception, the staff side argued that the official figures were not accurate as they failed to include a number of important items, and in the end they were only accepted because they were regarded as authoritative and impartial. I am, therefore, quite unable to admit that Civil Servants have done anything wrong or against the well-being of the community by basing their wages statements on the only authoritative figures to hand.
If you think some other method should be adopted surely you should tell us what it is, and although the obvious thing is to suggest some impartial authority, the first point which arises is that no such body existed at the time of our settle- ment or exists now, and, secondly, that the impartiality of persons is .very much a matter of opinion, and it would be difficult, if_not impossible, to set up a body which everybody would accept as at once authoritative and impartial.—I am,
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