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~ e memmemenneierees ns CCC -- Oe ~Ameeemeea e C rHFrTr*+*»FI4 « p r * & THURS]}"H, FEBRUARY 28, 1918. SRVICE j & o 8 Ontario Government's Plan Severely Criticized in ; Legislature ; 7 en I That the Ontario Government's| plan for Civil Service reform is only abortive, and does not do away with party appointments, is the opinion of Liberal members of the Legis-f ilature, who -- yesterday -- vigorously | protested against what they termed ia '"half--measure," and imade earnest" |appeals to the Government to give ; the new Civil Service Commissioner1 a free hand in making appointments| to the public service. The Liberal Leader. Mr. Proud-- foot, said the Government should take Civil Service appointments out of politics. The act had some good features, he said, "but this order in Council business'" destroyed much of its usefulness. Mr. Proudfoot point-- ; ed out that no examination test wasl provided, nor was any standard fixed | respecting what the qualifications or" applicants should be. He also ob-1 jected that the Civil Service Com-l missioner _ would have no real, authority, because the Government would have power to override his ldecisicms. e thought the Com-- missioner should have a free hand, and appointments should be made through him after full investigation by him as to the merits of the ap-- plicant. If they failed to do that they were failing in the duty they set out to perform. They should have either competitive examina-- tions or a standard. lSystem at Ottawa. Hon. G. Howard Ferguson said it had been four:d at Ottawa that the competitive examination system was a failure. Dealing with the suggestion of Mr. Carter, South Wel-- lington, he declared that the Ex-- ecutive Council had to take re-- sponsinbility --for the Civil Service Commissioner, 'and it was there-- fore impossible to make the Com-- missioner independent of the Cabinet. "How will the Commissioner be' free from Government control? asked Mr. J. C, Elliott, West Mid-- dlesex. '"'Unless the Government are 'trying to give this man a free hand lthey are not fgetting anywhere with |this bill. The Commissioner's wings 'are so clipped that he is absolute-- ly powerless." 'We have a Civil Service Re-- form Bill at Ottawa,". said Mr. Lucas, "but apparently it did not work out as many people thought it would, and it may be that the pro-- pose!dl Civil Service reform -- here may not accomplish all that it is hoped it will accomplish." Mr. Lucas denied that the civil servants of Ont-- ario were a lot of slaves cringing to the powers that be, as the member for South Wellington had described them. He said there was no spoils system in Ontario, and when the present Government came into power all the civil servants appoint-- ed by the old Government were al-- | lowed to retain their positions, and had;given royal service to the new Goyernment. Dealing with Mr. Proudfoot's remarks, he said that before the Government could set standards it would be necessary to make a classification of those in the Civil Service. He added that there were 400 or 500 inside servants. | Criticizes Musgrove, j L Mr. Carter thought the Govern--