RETRENCHMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 455, 13 March 1909, Page 7

RETRENCHMENT.

THE COVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS. INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE AND TOURIST. WHAT WILL THE GOVERNMENT DO? The air is full of rumours concerning the direction in which th'o Government's apparent intention to carry out a scheme of retrenchment among tlio various Departments will take. In yesterday's issuo wo rehearsed tho plight of tho Departments, I pointing out the number of smaller Depart- / ments which had grown out of others into : positions of more or less importance, all going, to swell tho big Civil Service salary list. All W-μ well seemingly during the fat years, but to-day at least some of these Departments aro in peril of being*"absorbed into others, and economies are predicted. Among tho Departments that are- likely to bo affected aro tho Industries and Commerce Department aud the Tourist Department, the dkitics of which aro really carried out by tho sumo set of officials. It would need a very powerful microscope to discover what real assistanco has been lent to industries of New Zealand by tho DeEaitment of. Industries and Commerce. It as on ocoasiohs collected oxhibits o'f wool, flax, butter, cheese, and kauri gum for display abroad, and has provided occasional information of interest, but, on the other hand, tho policy of the Government has not been favourable to-tho establishment of now • industries in this country. In tho commercial section reports of the London markets ; are cabled out at intervals' by the High Commissioner ; Mr. Cameron furnishes detailed re- ■ ports by every English mail, and inquiries from Home and abroad are furnished locally. Mr. Gow has* been sent. to South Africa, the East,-and Canada ; to report on trado prospects with a highly discouraging result as far as anything practical is concerned. So ''Industries and Commerce" will probably bo merged into one of tho larger Departments, most probably that of Agriculture, which it overlapped in many ways. Tho Tourist and Health Resorts Department has been regarded by some as largely ornamental, but jko point may be considered, to bo controversial. Mr. T. E. Donne has made the scenic and health resources of the Dominion pretty widely known to tho outer world. If citizens have been known to return i from abroad with the complaint that Now 1 Zealand is not sufficiently, advertised, whilst other make flaring displays on the highways of the globe, it will probably bo ro- -• torted that.this is because others have spent thousands compared with the hundreds the Dominion has spared, for the purpose. In , attracting settlers, this Department has been handicapped by not being able to provide good land at cheap: rates to tho prospective settler, who on more occasions than one has spoken bitterly of the goods offered not being up to advertised samplo, whereas other countries, such as tho Commonwealth and Canada, kavo vast unoccupied territories on which to plant the earnest, settlor. Now ! Zealand has been mado knowu as a happy ' hunting ground for the sportsman, the lover of Nature , , in her grander, moods, ■ and tho possessor of medicinal springs of rare curative power, and some credit may be claimed by tho Department for this work. But it is argued that it might have boon done just as effectively by an intelligence and advertising bureau attached to such a Department as tho . liadways, and this may possibly be tho outcome of tho'shuffle now, being made by the' Government. The insistent rumours that ?.., D ° nn6 is to go to the assistance of the High Commissioner in London gives strength to the report in circulation that Cabinet"is considering the proposed amalgamation '. of several of the Departments, including the two particularly mentioned hero, but no absolutely authentic information can be trained in this regard. • ■ ' ;