CURRENT TOPICS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1805, 3 April 1888, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

ISo various, indeed so diametricallj contradictory are the reports which from time to time reach us as to the position | and prospects of the Pan am a Canal, ' that it is exceedingly difficult to know ■ precisely what to helieve. On the whole it may perhaps be safely said that it has been demonstrated that the work will be immensely more costly than was originally contemplated by the wonderful old man by whom it was projected, and upon whose plans it is m course of being constructed, and that the engineering and climatic difficulties prove to be^niorc formidable than had been anticipated, but that, notwithstanding all this, eventual success may be regarded as certain, provided only that the necessary funds .arc forthcoming. It has, however, bcou found necessary to abandon the idea, for the present at any rate, of making a water-way through the Isthmus at one continuous level, and a system of locks has therefore been fallen back upon, and a contract entered into for the construction of iron or steel lock-gates and fittings. This will, of course, mean a difference of an hour or two — possibly several hours — m the time required for transit from ocean to ocean, but this is after all not a very serious consideration. Even on this modified plan, however, some twentytwo and a-half millions sterling will yet be required to enable the completion of the works, and there appeared to be at one time, and that recently, reason to fear that it would not bo found possible to obtain these further funds m addition to the immense amount already subscribed by the French people, who have, so far, almost solely furnished the sinews of war. But it is satisfactory to learn that the Chamber of Deputies has sanctioned the raising of a further loan to the amount required, which, added to sixty millions previously expended or authorised, will make a gross total of eightytwo and a-half million pounds sterling. With the twenty-two and a-half millions for the raising of which legislative sanction has wow been obtained, M, de Lesseps says that he will be able to complete the great work he has m hand, and that it will be open for traffic m 1890, or early m 1891. May, the event fulfil his anticipations,

The teetotallers seem to have managed affairs m connection with the recent licensing electious m Auckland exceedceedingly badly. True they carried a number of the polls, but m almost every case the elections have been upset on appeal, and all for want of a little business management, and necessary care and precision m attonding to the most ordinary details connected with the nominations. "It has transpired (writes an Auckland paper) that even if their nominations had not been given to the returning officer, and had been deposited at the various places indicated m the notifications m time, they were still so hopelessly informal through clerical errors as to be easily upset. In fact, not a single nomination m the City of Auckland or Borough of Parnell made by tln-m was legal." Commenting upon this extraordinary carelessness the writer goes on to say : — "At the annual meeting of the N6w Zealand Alliance, just held, one of tho speakers " called upon high Heaven to witness that he would devote his future life to securing- the principlo of tolol prohibition"; but if ho had only devoted a single hour to seeing that the city licensing nomination papers were legally made out, he. would have done the party much better service, as owing to the flood tide of public sentiment against the tyranny of the brewers, the whole city might have been easily carried by the temperance candidates " This is a just rebuke, but blundering mismanagement does not appear to be the only complaint, for, if what is further said by the writer we are quoting be true, m one district (that of Newmarket) defeat overtook the temperance party as the due reward of adopting tactics which were unworthy of themselves and their cause. This is' what is said to have been the case. "To make matters worse, the temperance party m Newmarket entered into an unholy alliance with a big brewer —their aim being to prevent the Jubilee Hotel being opened, the brewer's to crush a commercial rival — and we had the spectacle of a temperance ' ticket ' being run by a man who has planted more public houses m Auckland than any other man m it, and nailing to the mast the following programme : 'No increase of licenses, no Sunday trading, and 10 o'clock closing.' It was enough to make a horse laugh, and the ratepayers, scarcely knowing whether to feel more of disgust or contempt, rejected the ' ticket,' despite tho brewer and his money bags, to the delight and satisfaction of all citizens who hate scheming and trickery. The temperance party, who hauo been the means of establishing a now city hotel for this ' brewer, have now t the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that they have been he means of bringing about the return of a licensing committee pledged to grant a license to the Jubilee Hotel, which Judge Ward, on appeal, had disallowed." Undoubtedly, seeing that the present Government gained office solely on a retrenchment platform, and appear to consider rctrenchment'tho be-all and endall of their existence, the Colony will expect that they shall bo ablo to meet Parliament with proof that they have effected retrenchment of an extensive and i substantial sort. There is evidence enough m the country districts — not we , fear m Wellington— that rigid, though not always judicious reductions and curtailments have been and are being made; but on the other hand there are not wanting examples of extravagance, and even m connection with what is being done m the name of retrenchment there is reason to fear that there are not a few instances of so-called reductions which make for extravagance, and a.re indeed the exact rcyerseof true economy. For ex-: ample, the " Wellington Post '■ pf & day or two ago contributes t-Ue ini^'—' " We boiieve tt «» n * * ' .-^.ung : — *"•-•*- „m dc found that the real *ooUit of the c retrenchment ' carried out has been to actually increase the public expenditure. Old officers, who are entitled to maximum pensions, but arc yet quite able to perform their work satisfactorily and efficiently, are being retired, and their places filled by other officers)! . receiving no doubt smaller ; salaries, but which total up nevertheless to a sum considerably m excess of the i difference between the salaries and ; pensions of their predecessors. Thus, if s ar officer receiving £GOO a year is vei tired on his maximum pension (twothirds) or £400 ayear and another ofj&cer

is appointed to succeed him at a salary of £400, it is evident that instead of £200 a year being saved the expenditure is actually increased by that sum. We believe that if the various transactions of this kind are analysed, it will bo found that the so-called retrenchment is a myth, and that the public expenditure has on the whole been largely increased, although lobs and inconvience have been occasioned to a large number of officers who, able and willing to continue their work, have yet been forced to retire on pensions. There are other shams also connected with the retrenchment policy. Thus Major Scannell, of the Defence Force, and who is also a Resident Magistrate, and, we think, a Kative f.and Court Judge, has been ' retired ' from certain of his offices, receiving a sum of £675 compensation, but we learn that he is still to continue m the service m some capacity or other at £400 a year. There are, we believe, a good many others who have received compensation without absolutely leaving the service, or who, having left it, have been re-appointed shortly afterwards without refunding the compensation." If there is much of this sort of thing going on— and to judge from the above extract there would soem to be a good deal of it, then the " Post " is undoubtedly right m characterising it, as it does, " a retrenchment sham," and a costly one to boot.