The result of the policy, although it seemed so excessively harsh that Civil Servants named him “The Chief Executioner,” was to place the Civil Servants under his care on a much better footing than they had ever been before. The life had been crushed out of the Public Works Department by the demand for retrenchment, which had been made session after session for years previously. There was a feeling of uncertainty throughout the whole department, among competent men as well as useless ones. They knew that Parliament insisted upon reductions being made, but as the Conservative Government would never bring its mind to make them, all the Civil Servants waited for the word, and none felt that he was safe.
Mr. Seddon made as many reductions as he could without affecting the efficiency of the department. When that had been done, he let it be known that the reductions would cease. Those under him then felt that the crusade would stop; and, knowing that they were regarded as efficient and faithful servants, they worked with more will and confidence than they had shown for many years. He never lost sight of the fact that his departments must be worked economically as well as efficiently, but from the first he gave his officers an assurance that he would not ask any of them to overwork himself.
His next step was to prevent a recurrence of an abuse that had grown up in connection with the sub-letting of contracts. This was practically the first benefit gained by the working-classes through their action in supporting the Liberal Party at the memorable general election. The workers had suffered greatly from the practice of sub-letting, which had become so common that only a short time before the Liberals took office the whole of a big Government contract was advertised by the successful tenderer to be let in sub-contracts. The subletting system was annoying to the principal, and it often entailed hardship on the workers. In many cases, the sub-contractors were “men of straw.” Competition led them to take the work at low prices, and the workers sometimes had to bear a part of the loss. Much of the sweating that had been disclosed in the colony was due to this evil practice.
