2nd October 1946
THE HON. THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH:
The Under Secretary and I hold irreconcilable views upon the relative status of the offices of Under Secretary and Commissioner of Public Health. In my view there is no room for an Under Secretary in the Public Health Department. The Commissioner is charged with certain functions and duties by Act of Parliament and his responsibilities are entirely to the Minister.
Arising from the circumstance that the Act originally provided that the Minister should be the Chief Secretary, successive Under Secretaries to the Chief Secretary’s Department appear to have extended their influence and usurped certain powers in the Department of Public Health which are calculated to stultify the status and frustrate the initiative of the Commissioner in defiance of the will of Parliament.
Warned of this position before accepting my appointment here, I sought Ministerial assurance from your predecessor, Mr. Panton, that I should be undisputed Head, under the Minister, of the Department of Public Health. This assurance was given me by Mr. Panton in your name after consultation with you, and on that basis, and on that basis only, I accepted the appointment.
My assumption that I am undisputed Head of the Department of Public Health has, since my assuming office, brought me, several times, into conflict with the Under Secretary and the Public Service Commissioner. It was hoped that these differences might be ironed out, but I am now I receipt of a definite statement from the Under Secretary that I am to regard him as interposed between myself and you.
As this is completely at variance with the situation as I visualized it when accepting the appointment, and as in my opinion it is inconsistent with assurance sought by, and given to me, before I was discharged from the Army, I shall be glad of your direction in the matter.
Before accepting appointment, and since, I have made it quite clear that I have no intention of continuing in office unless I am, as Commissioner, undisputed Head of the Public Health Department. If I have been under a misapprehension and it is the policy of the Government to make the Commissioner responsible to the Under Secretary, Chief Secretary’s Department, I fear I shall have no alternative but to tender you my resignation on the following grounds:
(a) As I have so frequently reiterated I do not wish to hold office under these conditions.
(b) I feel that I could not give loyal, conscientious and satisfactory service to a Government which I felt in my heart had been guilty of mis-representing the terms of appointment to me.
C E Cook