Chapter X.
Minister for Public Works.
The first thing Mr. Seddon did as Minister for Public Works was to set his department in order. The Conservative Government had contemplated abolishing the Public Works Department altogether. It had frequently proposed to do so, but had never put its scheme into practice. Mr. Seddon thought that, as the money available for the construction of public works was limited, and as the Government had abandoned the borrowing policy with the object of taking safer steps, there should be a large reduction in the departmental expenses. He argued that if the department’s income was reduced by about a quarter, its expenses would also have to come down. A day or two after he had been sworn in as Minister he sent for the head of his department and ordered a list of all the officers to be supplied to him. The result of a careful study of the list was that over forty officers were dismissed at once. The list of dismissals included:
- One consulting engineer.
- Four district engineers.
- Eleven assistant engineers and draftsmen.
- Twenty inspectors.
- Ten clerks.
As Minister for Defence he dismissed an under-secretary, three lieutenant-colonels, and several junior officers. The saving of salaries in the Public Works Department was £8,000 a year, and in the Defence Department £4,800 a year.
It was only natural that his policy of retrenchment should be severely criticised in the House and in the Wellington newspapers, and also secretly in the Civil Service, in whose eyes he was a demon of economy, seeking for poor Civil Servants to dismiss.
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