"PEACE, PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY" 243 



combined. Under certain denned conditions of increment, minimum 

 and maximum salaries were scheduled for each class seniority could 

 carry mediocrity to the top of his class, but before he could step 

 into the next class efficiency had to be counted. It was here that 

 the machinery eventually displayed weakness. The Act appeared 

 to provide an equitable solution of all claims, but its administration 

 required tact, patience and that rare capacity which enables men 

 to accurately appraise character and ability in others. Mr. Service 

 was quick to see that a Board composed exclusively of senior civil 

 servants could hardly be expected to deal with their colleagues 

 without some slight preference or prejudice, and he appointed two 

 outsiders, Mr. J. M. Templeton, a professional actuary and ac- 

 countant, and Professor Irving of the Melbourne University. To 

 these was added Mr. Couchman, a Government officer of long 

 standing, then the permanent head of the Mining Department. 

 The chief defect disclosed in the working of this Act was the 

 attempt to deal with the service as a whole in the matter of pro- 

 motion. Thus a man who had perhaps spent all his career in the 

 Custom House could claim his promotion to a vacancy of superior 

 grade arising perhaps in the Public Library, and unless a charge of 

 absolute unfitness could be formulated against him he could not be 

 passed over. This was entirely at variance with the practice of the 

 Civil Service in England, where each department of State is kept 

 entirely distinct, and no outsider may intrude. The general rates 

 of pay in Victoria and the very attenuated scale of increment were 

 quite inadequate to offer any attraction to men of ability to enter the 

 service. The youth who had ambition, and capacity to justify it, 

 could in commercial pursuits command a salary in a few years for 

 which in the Civil Service he would have to wait half a lifetime. 

 And, unfortunately, with the passing away by retirement hi 1888 of 

 Mr. Templeton, the Chairman of the Board, and Professor Irving, 

 the control passed entirely into the hands of senior officers of the 

 public service, and the administration of the Act was even for a 

 time tacked on to the duties of the Commissioners of Audit. This 

 was entirely subversive of the principle of independent super- 

 vision for which Mr. Service contended, and in a very short time 

 seniority became again the real ground of promotion, and its com- 



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