RETRENCHMENT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 532, 12 June 1909, Page 10

RETRENCHMENT.

QcqpNTRY-;;POSTMASTERS /AFFECTED; a' Ainolig • other. <schobtes.'of : economy, irf" Go■'lyerniaent'- Departmeritsi -it|-is'. .proposetf-'fci 'charge^'officers'■ in- 'residential Vcouitry 'post ""offites •' a - reh'tal 1 in ; future. I .' In ' .roicing .his '.'opinion : on: the-matter :(says tlie""l ) overty:: k ::^^Bay r HerdTd"]!a.cpuntry'pbstaroffio'lai- stated .'• that, withja Ifree' houJ6; ;ho' felt'tliat if any person,; living s6mo distance away came to do .'business, out .of om'ce':hqurfl,.he felt under an ."• obligation to'Dttend- to;£hat"iiefsohV If he ' wbb; to pay, a rtnty however, Lβ would: con-* .sider. that obligation -removed,, and' decline do:business -oui of office^-hours.. ■. ..'.'■ - 1 . ,-' AJThe.: case of ',tho postmaster at ,Temuka '' , :untfer''.'th'e flow scheme is'tbo subject of somo .'.'indignant r'om;trks : by'' t<be■ -."JLiciaqcr." ;." ; 'For last; thirty,, years,- --'te'"^^-.''knowledge' , ,, tlio .'poStnSaster, 6f ~Temukii -has 'lived', rout '.jre'e '.. v m; attached ..to the public offices.. ■On wo occasion's, to 'tho best of our know-, ; and : ,jbeliefjf.-the-pbstni(!«t6r''-*aß' allowed ■.'renV while , tho post office was being rebuilt. " This was.the'case twenty-seven'years ago,. \whon : ;:Mr, : ..o'Halloran- was?in 'charge, and ..again. mbro recently when Mr. 1 , . P. White wwal-in. charge. In; all-that-timo' , the "pdsttinAstdi-", liycxT; in. '.' quarters attached '■ to .-the J of -; rent, a nd' therefrom : the free ■; *H.alpri''.boon"regarded.las a ,':part'of his ; salary. Avliat -has this' retrenchment. Government dplio now? Simply given ./notice ,td postmaster .that hencefofth he ■-■,'niUsti'pay £26.a year for the residence s hu '.'■■' ocßnplds,- in cohnectmn with-.tho , post,- office. ,That means, in -j>lairi' unvarnished -English, '; .taking £2G a year, or 10s. per week, offi.'tHe ■': postmaster'b -'aalnry. That; -is it;,.: ,-,but vfp (Caniiot'eee by .what right it was done In 1-. tho year, 1880. a Royal.Commission was appointed to ascertain how retrenchment'could : l)o eifected, and s lt"was recommended to re:.duoe salaries;by 10 per. cenfc ; all;rdund. Tho ,recommendi(tion,.',so"',far/as , -wo remember, . .was ratified by.Parliament. : Again, in 1887, retrenchraont was adopted) nnd Sir Harry Atkinson began by throiv-ing;£6oo a yoar off his Town tsalary, and £200 a year-off each Minister,' This was also ratified by Parlia- • jnent, J but here, without any; authority soever, £26 a year hoe been taken off the salary of the Postmaster of Teinuka, and wo : presume that the same thing will bo,done fo ■'• postnusters throughout the country, and.possibly'to stationmastors'and others occupying .Gpyernment.hpuses.". : ...*:.:.^/-.'...:: '